A Maltese Woman Was Just Forced To Carry Unviable Pregnancy For Six Weeks, Gynaecologist Warns
Andrea Prudente’s struggle to terminate her non-viable pregnancy while on holiday in Malta has captured the world’s attention – but hers is not exactly a one-off case.
Gynaecologist Isabel Stabile told Lovin Malta that she knows of a Maltese woman who encountered a similar issue within the past three months and who was told to wait for her foetus’ heartbeat to stop before her pregnancy could be terminated.
“Thankfully she was fine but the foetus remained inside her for another six weeks before it died,” she said.
She also cited the case of Marion Mifsud Mora, whose waters broke at 17 weeks of pregnancy some years ago and who had to be airlifted to Paris to terminate it.
Stabile said that pre-viable, pre-term and premature ruptures of membranes effects under 1% of pregnancies, but with some 3,000 babies born every year, it still amounts to a sizeable number.
Andrea Prudente and her partner Jay Weeldreyer
She said it is common practice for doctors to wait until the foetal heart stops before terminating a pregnancy, unless the mother’s condition worsens – in which case they will intervene.
This also applies when there is absolutely no chance of a successful pregnancy, as was the case with Prudente – whose waters broke after 16 weeks of pregnancy, leaving the foetus without any amniotic fluid to feed off of.
“Without any amniotic fluid the foetus cannot grow or breathe… even if it reaches 22 weeks, it won’t be able to develop and will eventually die.”
Stabile questioned the logic behind forcing these women to risk physical pain and prolong their emotional pain when the end result – the death of their baby – is inevitable.
“It’s an unnecessary wait… call it an abortion if you like but it’s an unnecessary wait which will only make things worse. Women should be given a choice and if they want to end the pregnancy, they should be allowed to do so.”
Mater Dei Hospital
Warning that doctors are scared of taking the risk and breaking the law, she urged more senior doctors to join activist group in Doctors for Choice in contesting it.
“They should have figured out the situation is untenable by now,” she said.
Prudente has received the go-ahead from her insurance firm to be medically evacuated out of Malta to terminate her pregnancy. Although Women’s Rights Foundation activist Lara Dimitrijevic said she will be flown to a hospital in Spain, Stabile said she could actually be sent to another country.
Earlier this month, Stabile joined a group of some 200 women in filing a judicial protest calling for the legalisation of abortion. Earlier today, she told MaltaToday that 60 doctors will be filing a separate judicial protest, calling for the law to change to allow them to offer abortion if this is in the patient’s best interest.
Cover photo: Isabel Stabile protesting for the decriminalisation of abortion (Photo: Doctors for Choice)
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