Watch: Andrea Prudente Case ‘Opened Our Eyes’ To Abortion Realities, Malta’s Reforms Secretary Says
Andrea Prudente’s struggle to terminate an unviable pregnancy while on holiday in Malta may well have “opened the eyes” of lawmakers to the country’s abortion realities.
“The case of Andrea Prudente opened our eyes to realities that politicians must consider to ensure that women’s lives are always safeguarded,” Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Rebecca Buttigieg said during a recent interview with Andrew Azzopardi on 103 Malta’s Heart.
Buttigieg noted that Health Minister Chris Fearne recently announced a review of the law to ensure that Malta’s blanket abortion ban doesn’t prevent doctors from saving women’s lives.
“We’re going in that direction,” Buttigieg said. “The law shouldn’t compromise doctors from saving women and we should safeguard women’s lives and doctors alike.”
As for the potential future legalisation of abortion, Buttigieg merely noted that it isn’t part of the PL’s manifesto without expressing a personal opinion about it either way.
Prudente was 16 weeks pregnant when she suffered serious medical problems while on holiday in Malta. She was told by doctors that her placenta had become partially detached and there was “zero chance” her pregnancy would be a success.
She said Malta’s medical staff advised her that her only options were to wait for the foetus’s heartbeat to stop or for her to develop an infection, after which they could terminate the pregnancy.
Prudente spoke to several international media houses, including the UK’s The Guardian, about her ordeal and ended up getting medically evacuated to Spain to terminate her pregnancy.
Should Malta decriminalise abortion?
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