According to MaltaToday, the Health Ministry of the once solidly pro-life nation of Malta has confirmed that five preborn children have been aborted there to allegedly ‘save the life of the mother’ since the exception was first approved by the parliament in 2023.
Previously, all preborn children were protected from abortion in Malta. There is no medical need for induced abortion (the direct and intentional killing of a preborn human being), to which numerous doctors and medical professionals have attested, including those at the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs.
MaltaToday requested information from the Health Ministry regarding the number of induced abortions since the law was changed, and a Health Ministry spokesperson confirmed that “… five incidents in total occurred where the mother’s life was at risk. To ensure patient safety, at least three consultants were involved in each case.” The spokesperson declined to state the health conditions with which the mothers were diagnosed.
At the time of its proposal in 2022, the new law, Bill 28, sought to legalize abortion when the mother’s health (including mental health) was at risk or when her life was in danger. However, due to controversy over the possibility of abortion being used to protect the mother’s health rather than save her life, the health exception was dropped.
“We were very disappointed, as we made considerable efforts, and we believed we were being listened to,” said Prof. Isabel Stabile on behalf of the pro-abortion Voice for Choice coalition. “We thought our politicians were hearing our advice because our advice was coming from the ground.” In addition to her disappointment that the health exception was dropped, Stabile also disagreed with the establishment of a “medical team” to determine whether a mother ‘needed’ an abortion to save her life. She argued that in a medical emergency, there may be no time to find three doctors to approve the abortion.
Stabile also claimed that doctors in Malta were already carrying out abortions before the new law was in effect. “They called them something else, but that’s neither here nor there,” she said. “But those were abortions, and they were being done under their own auspices, you know, as part of good medical practice. So, removing that ability for doctors to make a decision for themselves, I think, is really rather demeaning to the profession.”
It is unknown which procedures Stabile is proclaiming to be abortions; however, when a pregnant mother’s life is at risk, an induced abortion does not need to be carried out. If the pregnancy must end, doctors can perform an emergency delivery, even if the child is too young to survive. Preterm induced deliveries or emergency C-sections to save a mother’s life are not legally considered abortions because the purpose of those procedures is not to intentionally and directly kill the preborn baby before the delivery is carried out.
It is possible that these are the procedures to which Stabile is alluding, because abortion advocates have recently been conflating preterm deliveries and induced abortions in order to gain support for late-term abortions.
One thing is obvious, however. Stabile and other pro-abortion advocates are not happy when abortion is legalized to save the life (or even the health) of the mother. The end goal for abortion advocates is legalized abortion at any time during pregnancy for any reason.
Any compromise on valuing human lives is a mistake for the historically pro-life nation of Malta. With every concession to pro-abortion forces, more death will be demanded. Pro-life governments and legislators must stay the course and protect every preborn child from being intentionally and directly killed — without exception.
