The Voice for Choice coalition is urging MPs to legislate after abortion court decision.

"Yesterday's court ruling sentencing a 28-year-old woman to a suspended prison term for having an abortion, sent a clear message to anyone who chooses to have an abortion: the healthcare system they pay into and ought to be able to rely on is untrustworthy and downright dangerous. The chilling effect and immense damage that this can cause is immeasurable," the coalition said in a statement.

"Notably, a handful of MPs, including Parliamentary Secretary for Equality Rebecca Buttigieg and Labour MPs Ramona Attard and Rosianne Cutajar, all stated their disagreement with the decision and claimed that women "shouldn't be afraid of requesting medical assistance," Voice for Choice said.

"We welcome these statements, as they echo what the Voice for Choice coalition has been calling for years. As activists, this is as far as we can go, but Members of Parliament - our representatives - can take it a step further. The V4C Coalition strongly holds that if our legislators see injustice, as they now say they do, then they should use their privileged position to act on it - immediately."

"Yesterday's judgment was the direct application of the law as it currently stands. The fault lies not with the judiciary - who are simply applying the law as it stands, nor with the police - who are doing what they are paid to do when a crime is reported, not even with the doctors - who have been left to navigate uncertainty that can only be rectified by entities that refuse to dole out any form of clarity on reporting obligations as they currently stand."

"The fault lies squarely with the law, which can be changed by our representatives," the statement read. "We therefore call on the government, with the support of all the MPs to claim that women should not be facing jail time for having an abortion to decriminalise abortion under Articles 241-243 of the Maltese Criminal Code immediately."

"Abortion is not a moral crime, it is essential healthcare. Until it is removed from the Criminal Code, anyone in power who claims to care whilst refusing to legislate is complicit in this harm."