In an interview with the Labour Party’s propaganda outlet, ONE, Prime Minister Robert Abela said that the Labour Party and the government have no mandate to change the abortion laws and abortion will not be decriminalised during this legislature. The Prime Minister was referring to the case of the 28-year old woman who was handed a suspended prison sentence for having an abortion. The woman complained of stomach pain to a doctor after taking abortion pills with the doctor eventually reporting the woman to the police.
The Prime Minister however noted that the government may implement a reform which would prevent doctors from reporting women to the police over an abortion.
I still don’t understand the rational behind the legal reform because if abortion remains a crime, I can’t understand how to legislate to prevent this crime from being reported. I suspect that the Prime Minister is not as scrupulous as to be morally convinced that abortion is wrong. The Prime Minister is surrounded in the Party by individuals who are pro-choice and I’m pretty sure he is also not a conservative.
After all he didn’t even say he is against decriminalising abortion – he’s just saying that the government doesn’t have a mandate for decriminalising abortion. Surely, however he is also afraid of losing some votes from the conservative Labour base but this should not be a critical issue.
Labour will probably use the abortion issue in the upcoming general election to crush any populist and conservative candidate PN intends to field. It is quite clear how this issue will evolve in the political discourse as Labour intends to reform our abortion laws in a piecemeal and gradual manner while it beats down PN on its conservative credentials.
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