Campaign to promote value of life among women

The Gift Of Life movement is planning to start a campaign to educate women about the value of life.

Paul Vincenti, a member of the movement, said the group will also focus on education in a bid to help people understand the value of life.

Last month Home Affairs and Justice Minister Tonio Borg proposed that the law prohibiting abortion in Malta should be enshrined in the Constitution. This followed a similar proposal by the Gift Of Life to Parliament's Social Affairs Committee earlier this year.

To date, more than 120 local organisations and local councils have supported the proposal, according to the Department of Information.

Speaking to the media following a meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday, Mr Vincenti said the aim of Gift Of Life was not to stop women from going out of the country to have an abortion but to educate them so that they would understand that if they do take that road they would be killing a life.

"We are interested in helping and not preventing," he said.

Asked whether entrenching the anti-abortion law in the Constitution was a step too far, Michael Micallef, another member, said it was important to "make hay while the sun shines".

Dr Micallef explained that the pro-life constitutional amendment was introduced in Ireland in 1983 through a referendum. He said that although this was slightly different from the one being proposed in Malta, the principle was the same.

"Since 1983 the mentality in Ireland changed and there is no longer 90 per cent of the population opposing abortion. But abortion has not been legalised because of the Constitution, making it the only European country where abortion was not introduced through a parliamentary majority," he said.

Member Noelle Grima said the people's rights were protected by the Constitution, so it made sense that the rights of the unborn child were also protected by the Constitution.

Questioned whether a referendum should be held to determine whether the abortion law should be entrenched in the Constitution, Mr Vincenti said there was no need for this because a recent survey conducted on behalf of the television programme Xarabank showed that 88 per cent were in favour of it.

"I think there is consensus and therefore there is no need for a referendum," he said.

During the meeting Dr Gonzi expressed his satisfaction that there were Maltese people who took initiatives in favour of life. He said that as a country Malta was pro-life and it was important that we continue to embrace our values, which are the backbone of society. He said life is the most precious thing we have and such a proposal made us proud to be Maltese.

The Prime Minister stressed that the proposal was above politics and aimed to preserve current values for future generations. He said the proposal made sense because it means it could only be reversed through a two-thirds parliamentary majority after it is introduced in the same way.

However, he stressed, values should not only be regulated by law, adding that education was imperative.

The Gift Of Life movement insisted with Dr Gonzi that the issue is above politics and Dr Micallef said the group wanted to establish a good working relationship with all the political parties.

"We firmly believe that the Maltese society should not only cherish and live its values but also invest in them," he said.