I’m not here to tell you whether or not abortion is a human right.

I’m here to tell you that I think abortion is a human right. And I know there are a lot of people who don’t agree with me on that.

Malta is a conservative, Catholic country. One cannot deny that.

So, of course abortion is especially a hot topic here.

And there’s a lot to unpack.

The Law Amendment

The government is proposing a law amendment that intends to allow “doctors to terminate a pregnancy when a woman’s life or health is at serious risk.”

Conservatives fear that the word ‘health’ is too vague and will allow women to get abortions even when their life is not at risk. Which is why thousands of pro-life people protested against the amendment in Valletta last weekend.

Lots of people think that the government is trying to introduce abortion ‘through stealth’. Really, what I think the Labor Party is trying to do is introduce abortion to appease pro-choice voters while not directly making abortion legal for conservative voters.

Sidenote: if the Labor Party can introduce a loophole in a law regarding abortion, only God knows how many loopholes they find to go about their personal bidding.

The government will not hold a national referendum because it knows all too well that the majority would vote against abortion. Yet, the government has the European Union pressuring it to introduce abortion. Plus, Malta got bad rep internationally on the Andrea Prudente case.

As someone who’s pro-abortion, I too have questions on the abortion law amendment. I want to know more about the amendment and a lot of the discussions are happening behind closed doors in government.

The Anti-Abortion Protest

It saddened me on a personal-level that so many people in Malta are against abortion. However, I also believe that those people have every right to voice their opinions.

I understand why certain people think that abortion is wrong; essentially, abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. So, of course it’s controversial.

The only thing I don’t agree with is that the protest completely neglected that Malta needs to allow women to have an abortion if her life is at risk like Andrea Prudente and many others.

Everyone Has An Opinion

Just because you have the right to your opinion does not mean you can force your opinion onto someone else.

Essentially, this also means that you cannot force your opinion of abortion onto someone else.

Imposing what you think is best for that person is wrong because you are not that person. You should not and cannot make a decision for them.

Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, both sides need to stop attacking each other and making assumptions.

Some liberals are not the most understanding type since they think conservatives are down-right wrong, archaic, traditional and backwards thinking. Bullying, attacking or offending conservatives won’t solve problems.

Conservatives too need to understand why women want to have abortions. A small fraction of women have abortions and we need to understand their perspective too.

If you want someone who is against you to understand you, you need to sit them down and have a healthy discussion with them in which you are open to what they have to say and they follow suit.

Nevertheless, men and women-who-choose-celibacy will never be in the same position of a woman who experiences sex. They can have an opinion and voice it, but they need to understand that their position is not the same as women who can get pregnant.

I am a 23-year-old woman who is fertile. I can get pregnant even with the use of contraception. No means of contraception is 100% full proof. Getting pregnant scares me. It scares me that if I had a child, my life could completely change and I don’t want that.

That’s why having the option of abortion available to me would worry me less. It wouldn’t eliminate my worries, just lessen it.

Abortion should be my choice, not someone else’s. I speak for all women like me.

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I feel that Malta’s political parties as well as conservative and liberal activists, doctors and gynecologists need to see both perspectives during conversations and discussions. I think the National Youth Council’s statement explained this point well: click here.

What women want is the option. Not everyone will do it. Not everyone will agree with it. But some people do and we need to respect why.