Legalising abortion? – Arthur Galea Salomone

One need not be a discerning observer to recognise that the debate on the decriminalisation of abortion has been characterised by a mismatch between the objectives which bill No. 28 of 2022 purportedly set out to achieve and the draft text used to implement those objectives. 

The early political statements were to the effect that the purpose of the amendment was to write into law a protocol currently followed by medical practitioners, which enables an intervention on a pregnant woman when her life is in jeopardy and, in the process, the life of an unborn child is terminated as a consequence.

That protocol has stood the test of time. Even though there was no compelling need to legislate on the matter, introducing clarity and certainty to address such challenging predicaments is laudable. Providing a sounder legal basis for that protocol should not necessarily have been controversial.

The controversy has been brought about principally by legal drafting which, whether deliberately or inadvertently, introduces gaping loopholes rather than certainty.

The controversy has also been fuelled by misguided statements which suggest that the objective of bill 28 is in fact to widen the...