Even in the not so distant past, there have been sickening attempts by political manipulators and well-known spin-doctors in both the media and the political arena to pin on the Labour Party some sort of pro-abortion label. It must be said that under every leadership up to the present one, these have been quickly and unceremoniously rebuffed and rendered futile.
The peak, however, was reached during the divorce referendum campaign of two years ago when there were some who intentionally, if stupidly, equated the right to divorce with that of abortion. Voters ignored them, fully aware that the Labour Party’s much-publicised anti-abortion stance over the decades was testament enough to its position today and tomorrow. They know that, for the Labour Party and its exponents at all national and international for a, there is no turning over abortion, wherever and whenever the issue crops up.
A most recent case in point has been the European Parliament’s decision to send a non-binding resolution calling for abortion to be made legal across the EU “as a human rights and public health concern” back to the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee. This was yet another opportunity for me and the other Labour MEPs to show where our party stands on the issue, and we did so by following what has officially and overwhelmingly been the party line for so many years.
As head of the Labour delegation in the Brussels parliament, it was to be expected that I would be approached by members of the Maltese media to comment on the vote that had just taken place on the resolution by Portuguese Socialist MEP Edite Estrela’s and our participation in it: for or against.
There could have been little hesitation on my part! I replied that voting according to the Labour Party line on the issue actually ran parallel to my own conscience. I am, have always been, and will continue to be against any form of abortion. My vote was consistent with my pre-declared position on the issue, as were the votes of my colleagues. I needed to stress this, as the European Parliament vote taken had not been registered.
Whenever this issue bounces back into the reckoning of the European Union’s highest institution, I am sure we will be taking the same stance, regardless of any ideological or political relations we keep as a party and as a delegation.
Does that mean that there will not be those who try to play the same game of old by implying things and pinning labels in the service of someone else’s political agenda? Certainly not. The manipulators and the spin-doctors will always resurface and regroup, hoping they can catch us on the wrong foot as they have unsuccessfully tried to do so many times before in both the recent and distant past.
Sorry, but there’s no turning for Labour over abortion.
Joseph Cuschieri is head of the Labour Delegation at the European Parliament
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