Lawmaker urges Malta to stop criminalizing women who seek abortions Reuters 5/12/2021
By Emma Batha
LONDON, May 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Maltese lawmaker made history on Wednesday by calling for the decriminalization of abortion in the Mediterranean island, which has one of the world s strictest bans.
In the first such move to amend the country s tough abortion laws, independent MP Marlene Farrugia presented a bill which would remove criminal sanctions for women who seek terminations. It s a historic moment, said Lara Dimitrijevic, a lawyer and director of the Women s Rights Foundation which campaigns on abortion rights in Malta. It is not legalizing abortion, but it is a very important first step.
A historic Bill to decriminalise abortion in Malta has been filed in parliament by independent MP Marlene Farrugia.
“It makes absolutely no sense,” Farrugia said, “that a woman looking for self-determination, looking for medical intervention, ends up being criminalised and condemned instead of being offered help.”
Farrugia said that the COVID-19 pandemic allowed her to reflect on the health struggles faced by women, saying that Malta needs better awareness on women’s needs in today’s society, including medical and sexual education needs, to increase the quality of life among women in Malta.
“I feel that this should be the platform from which we go forward, so that all women push an agenda for health structures that support women from birth […] till old age, so that we can create a better life not just for women or children, […] but for all society.”
Former Labour councillor Charles Azzopardi has confirmed he will contest the upcoming general election on the Nationalist Party ticket on the seventh district.
Azzopardi decided to switch electoral allegiance just three months after contesting the Labour parliamentary seat vacated by former minister Edward Scicluna. After serving in local council politics for 19 years, he attributed the swing on grounds that Labour “lost its connection to the roots of the party’s principles”.
“I was the first Labour mayor to be elected in Rabat, and I contested seven different elections on the party’s behalf,” Azzopardi said.
“Coming from such a background, I firmly believed in Labour’s 2013 dream to build a better Malta.
The auditor general has accused catering company James Caterers of trying to intimidate and influence an investigation into a controversial contract at a state home for the elderly.
In a letter to the National Audit Office, James Catering Ltd warned it would hold NAO officers personally responsible for any reputational damage from an audit into two tenders linked to the Saint Vincent de Paul facility.
The NAO is assessing a 2015 tender that began as a request for meals and a kitchen at the Luqa home and morphed into a second project to extend the facility.
It was won by a consortium that includes James Caterers and another firm that forms part of the DB group.