Former President and member of the pro-life coalition Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said Wednesday that she is worried for the Labour Party, given the opposition that some Labour supporters are showing to the controversial amendment regarding abortion.
In a video posted on the Life Network Foundation’s Facebook page, Coleiro Preca said that Maltese people have always cherished the value of life, and the current proposed amendment, which disrupts the social, ethical and moral order, should merit more discussions which stray away from religion and partisan politics.
The government is proposing changes to the law which are being interpreted as introducing abortion. It is currently holding negotiations which will possibly lead to changes to the original wording proposed.
“We are talking about the killing of innocent babies. I am sorry to say that this issue is causing damage to the Labour party,” Coleiro Preca said.
She said that many people in support of the PL have contacted her saying that they are worried, that they are definitively against the amendment, and that if the PL moves on with the bill, the PL ‘can forget about them.’
“I am worried. Everyone knows who I am and where my politics was aimed at. I am worried about the damage it will cause to the PL,” she said.
Coleiro Preca continued that there are many who cherish the value of life who never expected that the PL would reach this point, when there were promises and reassurances that the PL is against abortion.
She said that while everything must be done to save the mother when she is at risk of her life, even if it means losing the baby, when it comes to the mother’s health, the country has the resources to treat the mother’s health.
“Without a doubt, we cannot accept that in a case where the mother has difficulty of health, we do not treat it and resort to abortion,” she said.
Coleiro Preca said that in her time as the PL’s Secretary General, as a PL MP and as a President, she has always believed that we must listen to children.
“How can I, a defender for children’s rights, accept the killing of a baby in the womb, without even giving a chance for that child to be listened to?” she said.