Rosianne Cutajar Warns ‘Pro-Life’ Tagline Is Demonising And Labelling IVF Bill Supporters
Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar has called out critics of the new IVF bill for describing themselves as “pro-life”, warning that this tagline is essentially labelling people who support the new law as being anti-life.
During a discussion on ONE Radio’s Temi this morning with PL MEP Cyrus Engerer and Nisa Laburisti President Nikita Zammit Alamango, Cutajar noted that PN MP Adrian Delia – one of three MPs who voted against this bill – will address a “pro-life dialogue meeting” in Birkirkara this evening.
The dialogue meeting is being organised by former PN MP Edwin Vassallo as part of his attempt to build a “pro-life momentum” in light of the new IVF law, which legalised the genetic testing of embryos for certain serious hereditary conditions.
Using the hashtags #RightToLife and #ProLife, Delia encouraged his followers to attend the meeting.
“He voted against the IVF law and now he’s boasting that he’s going to speak at this ‘pro-life dialogue session’… how insensitive of him,” Cutajar decried. “He is practically telling those who are in favour of these amendments and who have a particular opinion that they’re not pro-life… as though people who have certain opinions are anti-life.”
“It’s about labelling and it really hurts me – not only as a woman and a liberal person – because this labelling practically demonises people who are in favour of the amendments and make it out as though they don’t love children, when they want nothing more badly than to have children.”
Cutajar is the only current Maltese MP who has openly called for Malta’s abortion laws to be updated.
Zammit Alamango, who was moderating the discussion, also weighed in, arguing that people who resort to genetic testing don’t do so out of choice but because their genes don’t give them any other option to have children of their own.
PL MEP Cyrus Engerer
Meanwhile, Engerer said that the very raison d’être of the PL is to “continuously bring about such reforms and work to change Malta progressively”.
The ultimate goal, he said, is to give vulnerable people a strong platform to ensure they have the same opportunities as people born into wealthy families do.
“We all agree with the right to life and we’re giving couples the right to have children when their biological material unfortunately doesn’t allow them to do so,” he said. “This shouldn’t even be something that someone should give you… seeing as the technology exists it should be available.”
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