The Women’s Rights Foundation (WRF) have called for access to safe and legal abortion as well as a national action plan for sexual and reproduction health.

WRF representatives called for access to abortion “to all women in Malta through the public health system and licensed private providers at least in the following circumstances: To save a woman’s life, to preserve a woman’s physical and mental health, in cases of rape and incest and in cases of fatal foetus impairment.”

Andrea Dibben, an academic and a member said that abortion is a human right and if majority rule had to dictate all policy than Malta would not have advanced in granting rights to minority groups.

The group also called for eliminating financial restrictions on access to contraception.

The press conference was also addressed by WRF founder Lara Dimitrijovic, in the presence of Women for Women founder Francesca Fenech Conti.

Malta is one of the few countries left on the globe, which makes up five in total that imposes a blanket ban on abortion.

WRF presented a position paper with its recommendations. In view of the way society has changed since the last national sexual health strategy was drawn up, WRF called for a revision to reflect such changes.

“A national action plan needs to be developed with clear responsibilities, timelines and measures of monitoring and evaluation to ensure accountability and quality standards in services.

“Actions should be assessed on the bases of structural, process and outcome indicators using the Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality approach.

“The development and implementation of this Action Plan needs to involve stakeholders from different fields” together with maximising participation of civil society and citizens.

Dibben announced the group will be organising “value-clarification” workshops especially with regards to abortion.

Abortion is a highly controversial and divisive subject in Malta, with recent surveys showing that an overwhelming majority of locals are against the practice under any circumstances.

Asked about the recent survey, Dibben said that WRF questions how accurately the numbers reflect reality considering how “taboo” the topic is and a fear of repercussions for speaking against the general consensus.

WRF also called on the decriminalisation of abortion so that “Maltese women who access abortion in other countries or through telemedicine do not face criminal proceedings and risk three years imprisonment especially when accessing local health services for possible post-abortion complications”.

On the issue of access to contraception, it was said that “subsidising contraception should be considered as a public health investment and should be extended for all brands and methods of modern contraception”.

Last year, it was the WRF who filed a judicial protest for the Morning After Pill (MAP), which was eventually introduced in Malta for the first time.