As the debate on the morning after pill continues to rage on and spur controversy, the National Council of Women has come out against the morning after pill, saying that many of the arguments being made are misleading women, and that the pill is “an established potential abortifacient.”

According to the NCW, “When something is wrong, it is wrong anywhere and the fact that it is possible to avoid legal consequences does not make it right.”

This relates to the morning after pill’s potential effect of preventing implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterine wall, however a large number of scientific reports have been published saying that this might not be the case. The emergency contraception could prevent implantation should a woman have unprotected sex while she is ovulating, once a month, however a large number of reports have stated that the morning after pill would have no effect once a woman is already pregnant.

A number of NGOs advocating women’s rights have come out against the morning after pill because of its potential abortive effects, while Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Civil Liberties, Social Dialogue and Consumer Affairs Minister Helena Dalli have called on the science community to provide further clarity on the active ingredients in the various morning after pill brands and their potential effects.

An investigation by the New York Times has shown that studies have not conclusively established that the emergency contraceptive pill prevents fertilized eggs from implanting in the womb, but rather delay ovulation, the release of eggs from the ovaries and/or thicken cervical mucus so sperm have trouble navigating to the egg.

The organisation said: “NCW has always taken a pro-life position from conception until death, but particularly with the aim of safeguarding the life of the unborn child. A new human life begins at conception. We object to the ‘morning after’ pill on the grounds that it is an established  potential abortifacient – that is, it can cause an abortion. The reality is that the occurrence, or otherwise, of implantation does not define the existence or otherwise of a living human being

It continued: “We believe that the morning-after pill infringes the right of the unborn child to life. It goes without saying that women have rights over their bodies, but this does not give them the right of life or death over another human being.”

NCW said the suggestion is often put about that wealthy individuals circumvent the law by seeking services abroad that are not provided here and, in so doing, the situation leads to a form of discrimination against less financially privileged individuals.

“This is absolutely misleading. When something is wrong, it is wrong anywhere and the fact that it is possible to avoid legal consequences does not make it right. You may as well argue that a wealthy individual can afford an expensive professional assassin to carry out their killings for them whereas others, less wealthy, have to run the risk of carrying out the job themselves! Decisions cannot be justified by monetary considerations, but by values that are the basis of fundamental rights – of which, the right to life is first. Many arguments put forward fail to assign value to a life at conception simply because this new life is still too small to be easily observed and take that to imply it has no significance.”

NCW asked how can Maltese society fail to acknowledge the right to life of the ‘weakest’ of our human beings? “How have we arrived at a state where we randomly arrogate to ourselves the exclusive right over the life of so many others? It is a disgrace that women are misled in this most shameful scenario, into violating the most essential aspect of their very womanhood – and further accommodate commercial interests of larger corporate entities.”

“We  condemn any measures, especially legal measures, that, rather than strengthen our rights as human beings, make a mockery of them by violating the rights of the weakest among us; by denying our human responsibility to stand up in favour of those who most need our protection and, in so doing, negate every aspect of all that makes us human,” concluded the NCW.