During a political event held today in Fgura, Prime Minister Robert Abela said that “when you carry out reforms, you will always find big challenges. But in the face of challenges, the courage to do the right thing always prevailed.” He explained that this is the right thing to do “because every person has value. The right thing because we have confidence in our country.”
Robert Abela was talking about the proposed amendment to the Criminal Code intended to clarify the legal position of the attending physician and the mother in circumstances where the pregnancy leads to the mother suffering from a medical complication that could put her life at risk or health in grave danger.
The Prime Minister also mentioned how he understands those who have genuine concerns and therefore explained in detail what the changes being proposed are: “What we are saying is simple – if your mother, your daughter, your sister are in grave danger during pregnancy, save their lives.” He went on to say that this does not mean that someone ends up deciding on their own to terminate a pregnancy. In fact, Abela said that a prospective mother, will have a doctor that together with the family decides in favour of a mother whose health and life could be in grave danger. “Today, if they make a decision in favour of the mother, the professionals could end up in prison.”, Abela explained.
PL Leader was also clear about the fact that with this amendment being put forward, abortion will remain prohibited. “We will not remove any clause that will lead to abortion being decriminalised. If someone tells you otherwise, they are not telling the truth.” He explained that the discussion is around only one amendment in the Laws of Malta, “an amendment to the Criminal Code, which keeps abortion as it is today… illegal and whereby abortion remains a crime. At the same time with this amendment we will protect the professionals who act in a moment where the health of the mother or her life is in serious danger.”
During his speech, Robert Abela also spoke about the current situation in Malta where he said that in the first nine months of 2022 the Maltese economy grew by 7.6%. This means that our economic growth rate has so far been a third more than that predicted by the European Commission.
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