‘Abortion Should Be Legalised But It Should Decided By The Maltese People,’ MEP Alfred Sant Says
Labour MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that abortion should be legalised in Malta but not as a result of outside pressure: “It should be a decision of the Maltese people”.
Speaking to Lovin Malta following his abstention from a European Parliament vote to enshrine abortion into the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Sant said this:
“Increasingly I have come round to the belief that abortion should be legalised in Malta, with proper safeguards.”
“However I totally disagree that this should happen as a result of outside pressure or dictats, from the EU or whoever, but it should be a decision of the Maltese people,” he continued.
“I disagree as well that it should be enshrined as a constitutional right at EU or national level; the idea started off as a political gimmick floated by French President Macron. So I abstained.”
Sant was the only Maltese MEP to abstain while the PN’s David Casa and the PL’s Josianne Cutajar and Alex Agius Saliba both voted against it.
PL MEP Cyrus Engerer was not in Brussels but was comforted by the knowledge that the resolution would be passed with a great majority, he even co-signed it.
In 2021, Sant abstained from voting on a similar resolution and his reasoning for abstention was the same: he does not believe that abortion should be imposed by the EU.
Instead, he called for a national debate that “should respect prevalent cultural and behavioural norms but not let them override inalienable rights”.
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