MP insists opposition to morning-after pill should be maintained

Nationalist MP Michael Asciak has insisted that Malta should not allow the sale of the morning-after pill if it was steadfast in its opposition to abortion.

Dr Asciak, who was speaking in Parliament, referred to comments on television on Tuesday by Labour MEP John Attard Montalto who, according to the Nationalist MP, had said that he was against abortion but in favour of allowing the introduction of the morning-after pill.

Dr Asciak said it appeared that Dr Attard Montalto was badly informed. What he had said was a contradiction in terms. One could not be against abortion and in favour of the morning-after pill.

The morning-after pill had two roles. In the first, if taken before ovulation, it prevented ovulation, and fertilisation, much like the birth control pill.

But when there was ovulation and fertilisation, the purpose of the pill was to prevent the implantation of the embryo in the uterus. An abortion thus took place. This could not be called a spontaneous abortion because it would have been an effect of the morning-after pill. This was direct abortion which could not be acceptable if one recognised a human being as existing from the moment of fertilisation.

Some argued that the state should leave it to the individual to decide whether to use the morning-after pill and this was an issue of individual liberties. It was true that this pill was available over the counter in many countries, and it could also be acquired through the internet.

But he felt that the state should still continue to disallow individuals the option of choosing whether to use the morning- after pill because this was a decision which involved the life of a third party - the human being that was in the embryo.