Abortion might be the next big topic for discussion in Malta following the news that a group of youths aged 19 to 35 made an official call for a mature debate to take place. The call was made in a paper on sexual health drafted for this year’s National Youth Parliament, and stated that “abortion shouldn’t be considered a taboo subject.”

When Lovin Malta ran the story yesterday, many had very strong opinions on the matter. Here’s how our readers reacted to the Maltese youths’ call.

1. A great deal of people welcomed the call to discuss it 

In fact, the exact sentiment for certain people was “Thank fuck”. As one person explained, “abortion happens anyway”, and banning it simply encourages illegal (and even more dangerous) procedures. 

2. Openly discussing it is not the same as legalising it

Even if certain people are to still on the fence on the matter, they did welcome the need to discuss the matter openly and not let it fester as a taboo subject. 

Oh and hey; there were even people who understood the concept of not wanting an abortion themselves, but accepted the decision of other women who might want, or even need it. On the other hand, there were people who, while having a very strong stand against abortion, still welcomed the opportunity to discuss it in an actual open debate. 

3. Others spoke honestly about their first-hand experiences

One user didn’t only explain why abortion might be an important choice in certain cases; she gave an open and honest first-hand account. While she explained that she doesn’t “totally agree” with abortion, she said her case left very little choice. At four weeks pregnant, she and her doctor struggled to find a sign of a heartbeat, and the woman was soon informed that she would have a very sick child for the rest of its life.

“All these bad comments about being a killer is just a face of hypocrisy,” she said. “Just try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand it before you judge.”

4. Of course, many people feel strongly against abortion

If there’s one thing our comments section revealed, it’s that this whole issue is beyond concepts like religion, politics or even age now. Young people, non-religious people and people with no political agenda or affiliation still had very strong words to say against abortion… and words like “killing” and “murder” quickly started showing up everywhere.

One person even promised he would stop voting “until death” and even distance himself from the Church if it doesn’t “battle as hard as she can to overturn this decision”. 

5. Being against abortion but not calling those who want it “murderers” is actually possible

With abortion being such a delicate subject, the two sides of the coin were always bound to quickly resort to rather drastic conclusions and judgements against any opposing views. Words like “murder” get thrown around quite a lot, but this is not the case with everyone who doesn’t agree with abortion. Some readers found it possible to express their opinion without being judgemental, hinting at the type of non-harmful debate that those nine youths in Parliament called for.

What do you make of all this? Let us know in the comments below

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).