Watch: Former PL President Praises Daphne Caruana Galizia For Pro-Abortion Stance
In a rare and unexpected turn, a former high-ranking PL official has praised the assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia for her pro-abortion stance.
Ramona Attard, who served as PL President between 2020 and 2024, spoke in a nuanced manner about Caruana Galizia during a debate on Jon Mallia’s Il-Każin debate show.
“Daphne Caruana Galiza was one of the first women who spoke openly about abortion at a time when Malta was far more backwards,” Attard said. “She used to tell people they are free to attack her for her stance and, as someone who never shied away from stating that I’m in favour of abortion, I really admired her.”
She said that she disagreed with the late journalist when she would write about politicians’ personal lives, sexual affairs and physical attributes, but conceded that “people aren’t black or white but several shades of grey”.
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“I felt closest to her in that she was pro-abortion and pro-women and was in favour of civil liberties galore. We were on the same page there but when it came to other issues, I didn’t like her style of politics.”
Caruana Galizia regularly spoke out in favour of the decriminalisation of abortion. In 2010, she warned that Malta’s blanket ban on abortion in practice only targets women who cannot afford to get one oversees.
“If people can’t get something here in Malta, then they will go outside Malta and get it there, without breaking any laws. But they must have the money,” she wrote. “In 1984, it was toothpaste, pasta and abortion. Now it’s just abortion.”
“The main purpose of Malta’s ban on abortion is now purely symbolic: ‘this is what we stand for’. But there is a secondary purpose: to stop poor people, and women who are financially dependent on uncooperative third parties, from having one. Nothing can be done about the Maltese women with access to a few hundred euros. They can get an abortion whenever they like.”
The full Il-Każin debate will air at 8:40pm tonight on GO Tokis.
Should Malta decriminalise abortion?
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