And the bill stops there, without providing a legal definition for the terms “grave jeopardy” and “health”, which means it will be up to the courts to interpret their meanings and boundaries if the law is ever legally tested.

There are already some clear potential red flags.

Firstly, several factors can increase the risk of pregnancy – such as if the mother is older than 35, if she smokes or drinks alcohol, if she is obese, or if she suffers from high blood pressure, epilepsy or diabetes. It is fair to state that any of these factors, and more besides, may (as opposed to ‘will’) put the mother’s health in grave jeopardy.

Secondly, as former MP Jason Azzopardi recently pointed out, the World Health Organisation’s official definition of ‘health’ is extremely broad – “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

Since there is no legal definition of ‘health’ in the Maltese Criminal Code, it makes sense that lawyers and courts could turn to the WHO – after all the government followed its advice to a T during the COVID-19 pandemic so how could it disagree with its definition of ‘health’?

If a woman gets pregnant through rape, that will surely impact her mental well-being, so would doctors be allowed to terminate her pregnancy on the grounds that it may put her health in grave jeopardy?

What if a woman wants an abortion on the grounds that she doesn’t have the financial means to properly raise a baby? Her health as a state of social well-being will be impacted if she is forced to give birth so would abortion be permissible in those circumstances?

Also, since this bill is intended to safeguard the mother’s health, it doesn’t include limitations in terms of fetal development.

If these loopholes come to pass, Malta could go from having one of the world’s strictest anti-abortion laws to permitting very late-stage abortions overnight so long as the doctor can make a case that the mother’s health was at risk.

To be clear, I think it’s high time for Malta to update its abortion laws.

An estimated 300 to 400 Maltese women already travel abroad to get an abortion every year, placing the abortion rate at around the EU average, and the police barely ever enforce the law.

The only thing the blanket ban does in practice is to place a financial burden on abortion-seeking mothers, promote dangerous abortions, and allow people to cloak themselves in righteousness and moral superiority.

However, it is a very sensitive and emotional debate and there are valid arguments on both sides of the fence. Unless people have their say in it, the law risks becoming a politically contentious topic for decades as Roe v. Wade was in the US.

The people running the country may consider this law to be a brilliant chess move that allows for the de facto decriminalisation of abortion without much controversy. However, unless all the loopholes are closed or the government makes its intentions to decriminalise abortion clear, it is also an act of political deceit and people deserve better than that.   

Do you think Malta should decriminalise abortion?