The Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MCOG) has welcomed the new amendments to the Criminal Code proposed by government.

Last Friday, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced significant changes to the controversial abortion bill, further defining the health clause of the bill. Abortion for health reasons will only be allowed if a woman's life is at risk, as well as more safeguards to ensure that an abortion can only take place once all possible treatments have been exhausted.

The MCOG thanked all those who have come forward publicly or in private with proposals to regulate situations where the loss of a child is excusable as a result of treatment to save a mother's life.

It said that it is not a matter of choosing the mother or the child, but a guideline where in the rare circumstance that a mother's life is at risk, "we have to give any necessary treatment thus trying to save both."

"This is a noble attitude practised selflessly by generations of Maltese doctors who until now carried out their work in a legal vacuum. The new amendments will provide the legal safeguards for the doctors to work safely and protect the lives of both mothers and unborn babies," the MCOG said.

It continued that the bill should not be seen as an introduction to a perceived right to abortion, but only as an instrument for saving lives.

"It does not change our working practices but only puts them clearly in writing," it said.

The requirement for three specialists to decide as a Multi-Disciplinary Team on the management of women who are seriously ill is to be commended and is again something that has been practised at Mater Dei for years, the MCOG said adding that the bill does not delay decisions, reassures the woman that any action taken has been decided by a team of experts rather than on the whims of an individual doctor, and decreases significantly the risks of abuse of the law.

"The claim by the 'pro-choice coalition' as reported in the media, that the 'new abortion law will kill women' is totally unfounded in a country with one of the best maternal mortality rates in living memory, where clinical practice based on sound principles, is now to be enshrined in the new law," it concluded.

No amendment in the Maltese abortion law is needed – ABBA

No amendment in the Maltese abortion law is needed nor sought by anyone except those who want abortion to be imposed on the Maltese at all costs, the political party ABBA has said.

 ABBA Party leader, Ivan Grech Mintoff said: "The continual series of lies, wordplay, and total deception that have characterized this campaign and the agenda of abortion imposition by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Health Minister Christopher Fearne, have now reached a far more shameful and far more diabolical level than ever before. Only certain foreign interests now seem to be important and the betrayal of Maltese values, culture, and identity themselves is now completely out in the open, together with any genuine Labour Party beliefs itself. They have finally made their real anti-labour position very clear and everyone can weigh the words that they use. Only those who are deaf to their own conscience can now congratulate them and applaud them for this latest action"

 "The promises and his word that our Prime Minister Abela repeatedly and solemnly gave us publicly, has now evaporated. He is openly celebrating that he wants to change the abortion laws. We remind the Prime Minister Robert Abela that it was he himself who told us that he has no mandate to change the abortion laws and that it was he himself who was to be that giant champion standing firm against anyone who tries to amend the abortion laws.”

“He did not even keep the promise he made to meet us to listen to our proposals and genuine concerns on this subject. Are you now expecting us to trust you any more and believe that you are not introducing that wedge and then open a full abortion, when this seems to have been the plan from the very beginning?
This is not credible nor the actions of a serious Prime Minister."

 “The ABBA party insists that the present laws safeguard the life of the mother in every situation as shown by the 100% record with which medical staff can be so proud of.  Mothers and doctors are currently not in any danger, neither legal nor of death because we don't have legal abortion," he said.

 ABBA said that it will collect signatures to hold an abrogative referendum when the law is enacted.

'Government intends to pass one of the most conservative and regressive laws on reproductive health' - Graffitti

NGO Moviment Graffitti said that government, while presenting itself as feminist, intends to pass one of the most conservative and regressive laws in the field of reproductive health.

Graffitti on Saturday said that government knows that the law is harmful, yet still announced the amendments last Friday. The group posed the question as to why there was no debate and consultation.

"Moviment Graffitti firmly opposes any law that undermines women and fails to provide them with the dignity they deserve. We urge every Member of Parliament to vote against this scandalous proposal," the group said on a post on their Facebook page.

A video was shown, accounting a story of a woman who remained anonymous, and who told a story of her miscarriage.

"I was suffering from miscarriage in the second trimester. The body doesn't acknowledge this and you continue experiencing symptoms of pregnancy. A doctor wanted to send me to hospital to remove my baby, but other doctors told me I had nothing, and that my baby's heart was still beating," the woman said.

"The situation went on for weeks. They gave me the wrong information and put my life at risk due to personal beliefs, and did not give me all the facts to make a decision for my own health. They believed that they needed to make a decision for me. This was a baby I very much wanted," she said.

She continued that she was finally taken to hospital after it became obvious that the pregnancy would kill her.

"I had to wait another day so that a Board of people who have never met me could decide if the doctors could administer the medicine to save my life. All this while I was in a room with others preparing to give birth," the woman continued.

"No one has the right to make a decision for a woman, especially those people who can never be in that situation," the woman said.