The Partit Popolari has said that the changes in abortion legislation introduced earlier this year 'greatly weaken' the protections that unborn children.

The party issued a reply in reaction to the Life Network Foundation disassociating itself from a number of groups (which include the Partit Popolari) that are calling for an abrogative referendum to revert the legal changes to Malta's abortion laws that were introduced earlier this year.

The Partit Popolari said: "Partit Popolari is surprised that Life Network Foundation appears to be actively defending the changes in the law that may be plausibly exploited through practice and test cases, and ultimately through the courts, to allow abortion in cases of merely possible and long-term non-physical risks to health, which is now explicitly permitted by the law. While the changes to the law were less harmful than those originally proposed by the Government, and Life Network Foundation deserves partial credit for this shift, the changes themselves nevertheless greatly weaken the protections that unborn children enjoy under Maltese law and open a clear pathway to the gradual introduction and normalization of abortion in Malta, even without further changes to the legislation. The mere  fact that this is a 'lesser evil' relative to the original proposal does not change the fact that it is an evil, which is why we have joined forces with other parties and organizations in an attempt to make the public aware of the nature of the changes, and ultimately to restore the protections that have been removed."