…that is, after amendments were added to address anti-abortion concerns that lead to unanimous support
The bill amending Malta’s criminal provisions on abortion – which faced one of the longest and most contentious debates in this legislature – concluded its parliamentary process with MPs unanimously approving it in its third and final reading without the need for a vote.
Such resolution was only made possible following substantial amendments to the bill with the clear intent of addressing the concerns of those who feared that the bill would effectively legalise abortion by stealth – and by association, the concerns of the Nationalist Party.
The bill will now become law as soon as it is signed by the President, a formality which had been far from a foregone conclusion at the start of the debate.
President George Vella had repeatedly asserted that he would rather resign than give his assent to a bill liberalising Malta’s abortion law, and last Sunday, MaltaToday, quoting sources close to Vella, said that it was Vella’s “no” that forced the government’s hand.
Through the anti-abortion amendments, the bill no longer exempts medical interventions leading to the termination of a pregnancy carried out to address complications which may put a woman’s health “in grave jeopardy” from criminal consequence. [This Newsbook Malta reports cited below fail to say what it does allow.]