health
Pro-choice campaigners in Malta create lockboxes containing abortion pills
Critics hit out at ‘dire’ situation in the country which has the strictest laws around abortion in western Europe
TL;DR
- Lockboxes containing abortion pills have been placed across Malta by rights campaigners to highlight the country's strict abortion ban.
- The campaign aims to provide practical help to women, inviting those less than nine weeks pregnant to email for access details.
- In the first eight days, 16 women contacted organizers, suggesting an unmet demand for abortion services.
- Malta has the EU's strictest abortion laws, permitting it only if a woman's life or health is in danger.
- A 2023 law allows terminations when the mother's life is in danger, requiring agreement from three doctors and exhaustion of other treatments.
- Abortion remains illegal in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal abnormalities.
- Data indicates hundreds of women annually seek abortion pills online or travel abroad for the procedure.
- A recent case involved a woman receiving a suspended prison sentence for inducing her own abortion.
- Campaigners advocate for decriminalizing abortion to allow women easier access to care and highlight the lack of sex education and contraceptives.
- There is optimism for future change, with a survey suggesting a majority of post-secondary students are pro-choice.