Several organisations, including the Malta LGBTIQ+ Rights Movement, protested outside the Auberge de Castille today, calling for the decriminalisation of abortion.
The rally was organised by the Voice for Choice coalition under the theme “Hey Sis! Thinking of you”, with campaigners making emphasis on solidarity between women who may need an abortion when the State does not provide the service. Organisers said that women in Malta have instead developed informal networks offering practical and emotional support to one another.
Protesters gathered at Castille Square before marching through Valletta, renewing their demand for abortion to be removed from Malta’s Criminal Code and regulated instead as a healthcare matter.
Malta continues to criminalise women who procure their own abortion as well as people who assist in carrying one out. Earlier this year, a woman was handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, after being convicted of inducing her own abortion with medication.
Voice for Choice argues that criminalisation does not stop abortions from taking place but instead forces women either to travel abroad or obtain abortion pills privately while facing the possibility of prosecution. The coalition is calling for the repeal of the criminal provisions covering abortion and for abortion services to be regulated through healthcare policy.
The demonstration comes just two days before International Safe Abortion Day on 28 September, which is marked internationally by reproductive-rights organisations campaigning for the removal of criminal penalties attached to abortion.
Newsroom
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