There are not enough eyes in the world, to roll enough times, to do justice to the actions of the Nationalist Party dinosaur Edwin Vassallo this week. In a move far surpassing any of his previous idiotic comments, columns, and statements, he was the only parliamentarian to oppose the Istanbul Convention. To me, this confirms what I have always known and thought- that the pro-life/anti-women brigade put the life of an unborn, human foetus, before anything to do with an adult woman.

For those who do not know, the Council of Europe Convention, otherwise known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first legally-binding instrument which is designed to create a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combating violence against women. It focuses on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims, and prosecuting the perpetrators of such acts. It recognises that violence against women is a violation of their human rights, as well as a form of discrimination, and it requires all signatories to totally criminalise offences such as psychological violence, stalking, physical violence, all non-consensual sexual contact, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced abortion, and forced sterilisation. It also demands that sexual harassment should be treated as a criminal act, and that legal sanctions should be levied against those who are found guilty of such things.

As I have written previously, I do not believe that Malta is a good place for women. The gender pay gap is one of the highest in Europe, we have a low rate of female employment, a recent study by the University of Malta noted there are serious problems with the way that the police handle domestic violence reports, we have ministers excusing an assault because the perpetrator works long hours, female activists are referred to as prostitutes, and it is common to receive threats of violence on social media, just for saying what we think. That is not to mention the fact that many men believe it is their right to grope, leer, harass, and follow women on the street, to send pictures of their pathetic phalluses on Facebook without an invitation to do so, and to call us whores if we dare to voice an opinion.

Unfortunately, Mr Vassallo doesn’t seem to care about any of this because his main preoccupation was to do with the wording around a particular clause dealing with forced abortions. Mr Vassallo believes that this certain bit of text would be “opening a window to abortion” and therefore he chose to put this before every single other part of the convention. It seems that Mr Vassallo doesn’t think rape is a big issue. It seems that perhaps the prosecution of those who commit acts of revenge porn is not a priority for him. It also appears that he thinks that violence against women is something not to be taken seriously. It most definitely seems like he is putting the life of an unborn baby/human/person before the life of a woman.

But there are others that share his stinking attitude. Earlier in the week, the Gift of Life published some fake news, calling their minions to arms against the Women’s Rights Foundation. They incorrectly stated that the WRF had received funds from The Community Chest Fund, and as part of their work was to do with reproductive rights, it was an utter outrage. There was absolutely no acknowledgement of the outstanding work that WRF does to help victims of human trafficking, sexual assault, violence, and harassment. There was no “well done” for the free legal support they offer to victims, and when they swiftly backtracked and issued a correction, they once again failed to mention anything positive about this charity which seeks to protect and help women in so many ways.

This is not about whether abortion is right or wrong, nor is it about whether women should be able to choose whether they carry a baby to term or not, it is a demonstration of just how much these individuals appear to dislike women. Their only preoccupation is that of preserving life, until of course, that life is born and grows into a human with opinions and thoughts of their own.

These are people who call women bitches, who set up fake social media accounts to push their agenda, and to send rape threats to pro-choice activists. These are people that could not give two figs if a woman is brutally raped, or her life is in danger should she carry a baby. All they care about is the life of a foetus above and beyond anything else, and at all costs.

Let me just say a few things - the life of a foetus is not more important than that of a grown woman. You can harp on about the sanctity of life and the innocence of the unborn all you like, but it will not change that fact. People like Mr Vassallo, and of course Malta’s leading authorities on women’s wombs (a salesman and an IT consultant) make out that they are so morally and ethically superior and that all they want is to preserve life in all of its forms, yet in the same breath they are completely disregarding the needs of living women and girls.

A report published this week by the European Institute for Gender Equality stated that the severity of domestic violence in Malta is amongst the worst in Europe. The Istanbul Convention provides comprehensive guidelines on how to improve in this area and if enforced correctly, it will improve the lives of Maltese women significantly. But no, Mr Vassallo doesn’t think this is important and his vote against it is indicative of the fact that there are an awful lot of men in Malta who couldn’t care less about women. It is indicative of the obsession that (mainly) men have with preserving the life of “the unborn” at the cost of a grown woman. It is also indicative of just how far we have to go in order to reach full equality and full recognition of our rights as individuals with autonomy over ourselves, and our bodies.

You are entitled to be as pro-life as you like, but I will always put the life of a woman before the life of a foetus, and I will always stand up against these anti-women individuals who put their misguided agenda before matters of violence, harassment and sexual assault. Call me a baby murderer all you like, but I would rather be called that than be a part of something which denies protection to grown women.