A new pro-choice organisation made up of healthcare professionals has been launched with the express goal of bettering a system that “has failed us and women in Malta”.

“Our aim is to advocate for quality healthcare, checks, screening, and preventive care for women, as well as safe sex and better sexual education practices. We want to build a safe environment where patients come to us without the fear of being judged or prosecuted,” Allied Healthcare For Choice said on their launch.

Made up of different allied health professionals approaching healthcare from a holistic viewpoint, they said they will be focused on educating and empowering people to be able to make conscious decisions.

“Women’s health is a field near and dear to our hearts. We feel there needs to be much more awareness about diseases and conditions that greatly affect women today,” they said.

“Unfortunately, there remains a lack of awareness about the medical and social difficulties that women face and discussion on women’s healthcare are often hampered by conservative voices who do not want true gender equality in our country.”

They called the current status quo “unfair and unacceptable in a democratic and free society”.

“We want to achieve change so that women in Malta can avail themselves of the same standards of healthcare and reproductive rights as available in other European countries,” they said.