After Cutajar Criticism, Roberta Metsola Points Out Parliament Has The Power To Change Abortion Laws
After being criticised by PL MP Rosianne Cutajar for not speaking out about the case of Andrea Prudente, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola pointed out that it is the Maltese Parliament that has the power to change the nation’s abortion laws.
“The President does not wish to enter any sort of back and forth with Ms Cutajar, but would point out that it is the Maltese Parliament, where Ms Cutajar still sits, with the Party she forms part of in Government since 2013, that has had and still has the legislative power to change, if it so desires, laws on this issue in Malta,” a spokesperson for Metsola told Lovin Malta.
In Parliament this evening, Cutajar called Metsola out for political hypocrisy after the European Parliament President criticised the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a landmark abortion ruling while saying nothing about the case of Prudente.
“Roberta Metsola tweeted out her solidarity with American women… well done for that but excuse me, where were you a day earlier?” Cutajar said. “In what universe were you when an American woman risked dying in Malta because our laws are so restrictive that they don’t even allow abortion for medical purposes?”
Prudente, a US tourist, suffered serious pregnancy problems while on holiday in Malta this month, with her waters breaking after 16 weeks of pregnancy, leaving no amniotic fluid for her foetus to grow or breathe.
However, she was denied the chance to terminate her pregnancy in Malta and had to be airlifted to Spain, with the case making international headlines.
Both Cutajar’s and Metsola’s political parties (PL and PN) and vehemently against the decriminalisation of abortion and neither party proposed changing the law in the last election manifesto.
In 2021, a year before she became EP President, Metsola was one of three Maltese MEPs to vote against a resolution declaring abortion to be a human right.
She defended her vote by arguing that the resolution didn’t respect Malta’s right to legislate on the abortion issue itself.
After Metsola was elected EP President this year, she said she will take the European Parliament’s stance on the issue, namely that abortion is a human right.
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