Letters to the editor – December 15, 2021
Abortion and healthcare
I can assure Giovanni Bonello who, in his letter ‘Abortion – self-defence’ (November 29) described my actions as an “ill-informed sortie in the field of law”, that I did nothing of the sort. This is because abortion sits firmly in the field of healthcare – specifically women’s healthcare – and it is when legislators make their own “ill-informed sortie” in the field of medicine by restricting access to this essential healthcare service that women are harmed.
According to Bonello, someone accused of performing an abortion in Malta could invoke the concept of “self-defence” against an embryo or foetus. Alas, it is customary for a person acting in self-defence to be charged in court and must then try to convince the bench or jury that they did indeed act in self-defence. It is precisely because I do not wish to see vulnerable women who have abortions or doctors who help them being hauled to court that I would like to see abortion decriminalised.
Bonello’s opinion on Malta’s abortion law is not shared by other members of his profession who believe that the act of abortion is always illegal without exception. Neither is it shared by the World Health...