‘Our Member Did Not Request A Termination’: Doctors For Choice Call Out Jason Azzopardi For ‘False’ Allegations Regarding Andrea Prudente Case
Maltese lawyer Jason Azzopardi posted a statement riddled with claims about the Andrea Prudente case, quoting Mater Dei’s Head Of Gynaecology’s testimony in a libel hearing.
In his statement, he alleged that one of the founders of Doctors for Choice made a call to the team treating Prudente and made a “threat” to intimidate them into performing an abortion.
“We will not go into the specifics of the case, which is currently in front of the courts, except to say that it is simply not true that a request to terminate the pregnancy in Malta was made by our doctors to the treating team, and it is outright false to claim that there was any attempt at intimidation,” Doctors for Choice told Lovin Malta.
Azzopardi claimed that Department Head Yves Muscat Baron stated that Prudente was bleeding 15 days before she left the United States and came down to Malta and that she was never at risk of dying.
He went on to say that Muscat Baron testified that Doctors for Choice doctor Isabel Stabile called the professor treating Prudente in the hospital and made a “threat” if they did not perform an abortion on the patient.
Azzopardi’s final claim regarding the doctor’s testimony was that Prudente was “never in danger of dying” and that “if she had not taken that exhausting journey, there was a significant possibility that the baby could have been saved”.
However, Doctor’s for Choice ensured that the claim related to Stabile was absolutely false.
“We wish Ms Prudente success, and we admire her bravery in the face of backlash. We encourage other women who feel they may have been harmed by Malta’s ban on abortion to pursue similar claims,” the activist organisation continued.
“Women whose pregnancy is putting their health or life at risk should be allowed to have a termination of pregnancy, and the state fails in its duty of care to women whenever such therapeutic abortions are denied.”
“We advise pregnant women who have complications and who wish to terminate their pregnancy to make use of our free advisory services to discuss their options.”
Prudente is suing Azzopardi for libel after he claimed that someone used Prudente to create controversy in Malta about the legalisation of abortion.
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