A recent survey on abortion carried out by the university student council does not give a clear indication of the actual perspective of students’ opinion on abortion, accorfing to the chairperson of the pro-life Life Network Foundation.
The KSU survey found that 58.4 per cent of participants believe that abortion should not be legalised, whilst 41.6 per cent were in favour.
Whilst KSU noted that the survey has achieved a particularly high response rate, chairperson Dr Miriam Sciberras believes otherwise.
Speaking to The Malta Independent she said: “When we asked students about the survey, many were unaware that there was such a survey taking place; which reflects in the number of participants. The fact that only 733 out of 11,000 students participated does not give a clear indication of the actual perspective of the student’s opinion on abortion.”
Sciberras, who had participated in one of the two public consultations KSU had organised on abortion, explained that she felt the debate was rushed and not properly organised.
“KSU had no reason to rush this discussion on abortion. Really there is no agenda for abortion right now. Both major political parties have expressed that abortion is not on their agenda and even the newly elected president Dr George Vella made it very clear that he disagrees the concept all together.”
When asked by this newsroom whether there should have been a discussion on the matter to begin with, Sciberras said that whilst discussion is healthy and necessary, it should be done in a proper manner and take on a more holistic approach.
“I felt that, apart from the fact many students weren’t aware of the survey, the survey itself was misleading as it did not give students who were not able to attend the two consultations the whole perspective of what abortion is or the services currently provided for women who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy.”
Sciberras explained that during one of the public consultations there was a gynaecologist present, who had spoken regarding the process and procedure of an abortion. KSU was meant to upload this online but never did, Sciberras said.
She also said that certain questions were “misleading” and could lead to the participants not fully understanding the question.
One of the questions in the survey was if the respondent agreed with abortion when a mother’s life is endangered. “This question was misleading, as there is already a procedure taken if a mother is faced with complications or difficulties during the pregnancy.”
Abortion should not be legalised in cases of disability of the child: a positive outcome of the survey
On a more positive note, Sciberras said that the fact 64.1 per cent of students believed that abortion should not be legalised in cases of disability of the child is good. “It gives me hope and courage that students are against this; since in other European countries it is legal to abort in cases of disability of the child. The fact that students are aware that a person is so much more than their disability is encouraging news.
When asked if, despite their stand against abortion, the foundation agreed to debate the subject, Grech said that two public consultations were held which resulted in a debate. The second consultation included a balanced panel with two representatives from the pro-life side and two representatives from the pro-choice side, she said.