National Party (PN) leader Bernard Grech has appealed to Labour party members who are against abortion to speak up within the party against the abortion bill reform.

Grech's speech was made on Sunday, when he also remembered the death of ex-PN political activist Raymond Caruana. The PN met in Gudja in remembrance of Caruana's murder, who was killed in a drive-by shooting on 5 December 1986.

"He was the martyr of liberty," Grech said.

Initially, Grech looked back to the time surrounding Caruana's murder to reflect on the challenges that the PN had to face which seemed impossible to beat. He praised the PN for its success and determination to fight against injustice which it has carried up until today.

Following this, he continued to express his disagreement with the current proposed abortion bill reform, saying it has too many loopholes which will allegedly make abortion legal.

He condemned Abela for vocally being against abortion in his electoral campaign, but now is proposing a bill reform which allegedly legalises abortion.

Once again he said that the PN as a party they are in favour of life from the moment of conception and against abortion.

"We are in favour of women, in favour of mothers, in favour of doctors, but not in favour of killing babies," he said.

He said he knows that there are people within the PL who are pro-life and do not want to legalise abortion. Therefore, he asked these people to forget their political ties and speak up against the abortion bill reform, as according to the PN, it will be legalising abortion.

Grech commented on how damaging remaining silent could be in a situation like this. He called this a "national issue" that deals with life and should be addressed by people's values.

He gave the examples of ex-president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and current president George Vella who have discarded their political ties to speak out against this amendment.

Coleiro Preca has joined the pro-life coalition in a stand against this abortion bill reform, whilst Vella has openly said that he is anti-abortion and will take his decision after Parliament votes on the matter.

Grech mentioned the academics and doctors who have criticised the abortion bill reform and said how it has too many loopholes which will be legalising abortion.

Before Grech, the shadow Minister for Health, Stephen Spiteri also spoke. When talking about the abortion bill amendment he concretely said that mental health is not a sound reason to ever justify the termination of a pregnancy.

He pointed out that one of the main reasons abroad for abortions had to do with mental health, however, he said that in Malta there were no cases of suicides which happened because of giving birth.

He said that this was because of the unlimited support that mothers receive once they give birth.