Robert Abela Ignores Pro-Life Coalition’s Request For Abortion Bill Meeting It Made At Start Of December
Prime Minister Robert Abela has ignored a major pro-life lobby group’s request for a meeting over the proposed abortion bill for almost three months.
The ‘Inti Tista‘ Ssalvani’ movement, which organised a number of protests against the bill, spoke out after Abela announced that the government will “meet everyone” to discuss Bill 28 next week with the view of presenting Parliament with an updated version of it.
Abela said the final version of the bill will allow prospective mothers to get an abortion if their lives are in danger or their health at serious risk but said he intends to curb any “potential abuses”.
However, the pro-life movement questioned the Prime Minister’s commitment to consulting a wide array of stakeholders, noting that he has yet to respond to a request for a meeting they sent him on 1st December 2022.
“We understand everyone to mean also us, and we therefore expect an invitation from Government to be consulted,” the coalition’s chairperson Miriam Sciberras said.
They also called out Health Minister Chris Fearne for his recent statement that the “hype and frenzy” over the bill has settled down.
“It is unfortunate that Minister Fearne chose to portray the genuine and rational concerns of so many Maltese as ‘hype and frenzy’ simply because they don’t take him blindly at his word and recognize that the current proposal has inherent and potential dangers to be abused and that cosmetic changes and reassurances on his part do little to change that,” the coalition said.
“The Coalition and the Group of experts are committed to present proposals that ensure the protection of mothers in life threatening situations whilst ensuring that the lives of unborn babies are protected from the risk of termination for any unjustified reason covered by the term ‘health’, as this would simply be abortion on demand.”
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