Doctors signing the judicial protest that calls for changes to Malta's abortion laws had no access to the document before signing, Doctors for Life said in a statement.

A judicial protest seeking change to abortion laws in Malta was presented today in court, signed by 135 doctors.

In a statement, Doctors for Life said they have become aware of the content of a Judicial protest regarding abortion to be submitted today by Dr Stabile in the name of a number of doctors.

The association expressed its concern on two primary points.

The first is that "the judicial protest is not requesting a refinement of the law so that it is more explicit in permitting therapeutic abortions covered by double effect, ensuring that doctors can perform delivery of the foetus for women in life threatening conditions. (This is the current practice already and legal experts consider this to be permissible by the law in its current form). Instead the judicial protest is requesting that article 243 is removed entirely therefore allowing any doctor or practitioner to perform any kind of abortion for any reason."

The second was that they found it to be "lamentable that doctors signing the form to include their names were not automatically shown the judicial letter itself or a full explanation of what would be specifically requested. The judicial protest letter was still being drafted whilst signatures were being collected and was not even ready by the last day of signature collection. This means that doctors signing the judicial letter may not actually be in agreement with such a drastic change in the law, which is much broader than required to address the issues pertinent to this case."