“I cannot understand how on a European level they take you to the European court over the killing of turtle-doves but then you’re frowned upon if you do not accept abortion.”

President George Vella did not mince his words when he recently spoke about his views on abortion, and he is correct when he makes this point.

The hunting of birds is to be condemned, and it is correct that Europe keeps an eye on Malta in this regard given our history, but it is then bizarre that the killing of innocent beings who, like birds, do not have a voice, is widely legal and practised in a Europe that then says it has human rights high on its agenda.

The topic of abortion surfaces every now and then in Malta. This time, the debate was triggered by Joseph Muscat who, in his last speech as Prime Minister, said he will dedicate time to civil rights which have so far been considered as taboo, which many thought was a reference to abortion. To be fair, Muscat did not mention abortion and, when asked about his comments later, he did not confirm or deny what he was referring to. Still, if there’s a civil rights subject that always leads to controversy and is still considered as taboo, it is abortion.

Since then, we first had Muscat’s successor Robert Abela adamantly saying that he will oppose any idea of legalising abortion and that it will not happen under his watch, and later we also had President Vella coming up in defence of the unborn, saying that abortion is the murder of the unborn.

Surveys that have been held in recent months show that a great majority of the population in Malta is still against abortion. Yet some groups, including one made up of doctors, have sprouted to push the idea of abortion, which they conveniently hide behind a pro-choice call. So far, their appearances in public have been timid and have not gained much support.

“I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born,” former United States President Ronald Reagan once famously said.

Again, wise words.

Pro-abortion campaigners, in their attempt to minimise the killing of a human being, argue that all that is being eliminated is a clump of cells. These pro-abortion campaigners forget that they were themselves a clump of cells soon after they were conceived and before their mother continued her pregnancy and brought them to life. Without having once been that clump of cells they would not have eventually evolved into what they are today, fighting for other clumps of cells to be destroyed.

Pro-abortion activists speak of women’s rights, avoiding the argument that innocent beings also have their rights. Abortion is the killing of another human being, and there is no such right as killing innocent people.

Another argument made by pro-abortion campaigners is that women seek unsafe abortions when it is illegal. But child-murder should not be sanctioned just because some people might do it anyway. Should rape and sex trafficking be legalised so as to make them “safer”?

There is no doubt that abortion will remain a topic that generates debate, but whatever campaigners say in their bid to make it legal in Malta, it will always be murder.