A 28-year old woman has been handed a 22-months suspended jail sentence for having an abortion. According to the Times of Malta, the last time a woman was handed a prison sentence over an abortion was 25 years ago. The woman ordered abortion pills online: a common practice in Malta that has rarely drawn the attention of the authorities.
The sentence was issued by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech.
ADPD have released a statement saying that abortion should be decriminalised. The Voice for Choice Coalition also issued a statement and condemned the Medical Council for its complicity The full statements are being published below.
ADPD Statement
In a reaction to the judgement, ADPD said it was shameful that Malta was still the country with the toughest laws against abortion in Europe.
In keeping with this resolution, ADPD said it was challenging the government to grant a pardon to this woman.
Voice for Choice statement.
Today’s judgement is not an isolated incident. It is a stark, recurring sign of systemic state failure – and of the complicity of institutions like the Malta Medical Council in systematic failure.
The State has failed to repeal the law and decriminalise abortion. Instead, it clings to the hollow claim that “women don’t go to prison,” as though suspended sentences and fear of imprisonment are a form of justice. This is not just spin – it is cowardice. Cowardice dressed up as pragmatism, driven by fear of losing votes and popularity.
The Government has said that women should not be criminalised. The opposition has also acknowledged that women should not be criminalised – a cross-party commitment is both possible and urgently needed – not just to stop prosecutions, but to stop pushing women and girls away from the very health system put in place to protect them – a health system they are just as entitled to make use of as the rest of us.
The Ministry for Health as well as the Malta Medical Council’s continued silence – and their refusal to issue clear, binding guidance to medical professionals – has created a dangerous ambiguity. Some doctors, including those working at the state hospital, still wrongly believe they are legally obliged to report patients who have had an abortion. They are not. But the absence of institutional clarity puts lives at risk.
This is a public health emergency. It is the product of political cowardice, institutional paralysis, and a failure of professional ethics – a perfect storm with no one is stepping in to stop it.
Criminalising abortion doesn’t stop abortion. It fuels fear, silences patients, and places already vulnerable people at even greater risk. It denies them dignity, safety, and justice.
If Malta claims to value equality, healthcare, and social justice, it must act now. Abortion must be decriminalised – fully and immediately. Healthcare professionals must be explicitly and publicly informed that they have no obligation to report abortion-related cases. And the government must end the dangerous ambiguity it continues to enable.
This is what institutional violence looks like in practice.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
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