Be the first to comment!Pro-Life groups reject Health Minister’s clarifications on abortion law
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Pro-Life groups have rejected Health Minister Chris Fearne’s verbal clarification made on Wednesday regarding the Abortion Amendment.
In a statement, the Inti Tista’ Ssalvani coalition led by the Life Network Foundation, Doctors for Life and I See Life, rejected the Health Minister’s comments reported in the media yesterday.
The groups said that “Minister Chris Fearne stated that the wording of the amendment will be changed to shut down concerns that abortion will be legalised.”
Minster Fearne stated “We will clarify that if a child can be born and live independently, that child should be protected, be birthed and live,” implying that the Government will introduce a viability criteria, which is usually 24 weeks (about 5 and a half months) from conception, the Pro-Life groups said.
They added that “this change to the amendment seems to highlight that the Government wishes to legalise abortion up to 24 weeks (about 5 and a half months), while only leaving late term abortions illegal.”
They insisted that, “the Government has no mandate to legislate for abortion, yet what the Government seems to be proposing would allow, for instance, the abortion of a five month old unborn child for reasons “that could” put the life of the mother “at risk or her health in grave jeopardy.”
They said that the definition of the word “health” is extremely wide according to World Health Organisation (WHO) this includes includes “Physical Health,” “mental health” and “social wellbeing.”
The Pro-Life groups stated that, “with this addition the amendment is looking even more similar to the United Kingdom Abortion Act 1967, that has allowed for over 10 million abortion, 98% of which are for reasons of “mental health.”
The coalition urged the Government to “provide the necessary clarity in the text of the amendment such that any medical intervention allowed to safeguard the mother clearly excludes the direct and intended harm to the child in the womb.”
The Inti Tista’ Ssalvani coalition said that it is still waiting for a response from the Prime Minister to have a meeting regarding this amendment.
Dr Miriam Sciberras stated that, “if this amendment is made law Malta will have a more extreme abortion law than most EU countries.”
She insisted that, “it is becoming very clear that the Government wishes to introduce abortion without having a mandate to do so. This is neither justifiable nor acceptable and shows a total disregard of the value of life in the womb. We ask the Government to reconsider this as it is not what the people of Malta have voted for.”
File photo Gozo News
