The American tourist who was denied an abortion in Malta while she faced pregnancy complications has sued former PN MP Jason Azzopardi and academic Simon Mercieca for libel.
Both Mercieca and Azzopardi claimed that Prudente was “brought to Malta” by third parties abroad and local activists in order to use her failed pregnancy as a scandal over the country’s hard-line abortion laws.
The libel cases were filed by Women’s Rights Foundation activist and lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic, and they come the morning after a three-day debate on proposed laws which would allow doctors to terminate a pregnancy when the prospective mother’s life is in serious danger.
Dimitrijevic in fact also blasted PN leader Bernard Grech, who addressed Parliament on Wednesday evening and used Prudente’s last name as a vehicle to praise the “prudence” of doctors who refused to terminate her pregnancy.
“There is no hiding behind parliamentary privilege. Shame on you and the very least you can do, if you have a shred of human decency, is to apologise for your insensitivity and below the belt comments. Or, you can do as you previous leader shouted on numerous occasions, ‘Barra’. You are not worth a seat in parliament,” she said.
Andrea Prudente was on holiday in Malta when she was 16-weeks pregnant and developed complications in her pregnancy.
Doctors at Mater Dei Hospital had told her that her pregnancy was no longer viable but would not terminate it because the foetus still had a heartbeat. She was not in imminent danger of dying, but risked an infection which could have proven fatal.
She was eventually flown to Spain where her pregnancy was terminated and has since sued the Maltese government over the case.
Azzopardi claimed on Wednesday that Prudente had been brought to Malta on purpose in order to create controversy.
“You really need to be trash (but I was told I cannot use this word) to conspire with people abroad so a pregnant woman can be brought to Malta in order for a controversy to be raised over pregnancy termination because she faked being in danger,” Azzopardi said on social media.
“This is not hypothetical, this is not a theory. This is an objective and factual truth,” he continued.
Prudente’s case prompted the government to revisit Malta’s abortion laws – which are among the strictest in the world – and come up with a legal amendment which would allow doctors to act in cases where the health of the prospective woman is at grave risk.
As things stand, doctors may face criminal prosecution if they step in to terminate a pregnancy when the mother’s health is in serious danger – even though stepping in where necessary has been the common practice followed over the years.
The PN however has argued that the law is introducing abortion in the country by stealth, particularly due to the inclusion of issues relating to mental health besides physical health as an instance where an abortion can be granted.
The party has backed a position paper issued by just over 80 academics which reword the legal amendments to remove the mental health aspect. The paper received the backing of some 450 doctors on Thursday morning.