Full protection to the unborn child

It was reported in a section of the press that the Maltese government does not intend to take any action to protect Maltese unborn children from abortions offered for free by a foreign doctor, not in Malta, of course.

It is to be pointed out that the Malta Domestic Violence Act - Act XX of 2005 - specifically protects the unborn child from any type of domestic violence by any other member of the household. That must include abortion. According to article 2 (ix) of the law "the child conceived but yet unborn of any of the persons mentioned in (i) to (vii)" of the same article is also a "household member".

Article 4 of the same law, in many of its sub-sections, specifically expects the Commission on Domestic Violence, already appointed by the Minister for the Family, to advise the minister how, among other things, to protect the unborn child from any type of domestic violence.

Article 9, again in many of its sub-sections, obliges the agency designated by the Minister for the Family, in this case Agenzija Appogg, to make provisions for preventive services to potential and actual victims of domestic violence, which again include unborn children.

So how can the government declare, so openly, that it has no intention to protect Maltese unborn children from domestic violence, read abortion and death, when it has so many legal, social and moral responsibilities to do so?

If the Maltese government is doing all it can to protect Maltese nationals from bodily harm on foreign soil in the war in Lebanon at present, as it is in duty bound to do, it should, similarly, do its utmost to protect Maltese unborn children, "members" of so many Maltese "households", from any potential harm, indeed this time declared death, on any foreign soil.

In this case those who are responsible for all this are very clearly known. They declared their intentions to procure abortions, and also incited Maltese nationals to commit an illegal act, according to the laws of the land, on Maltese soil, indeed, for good measure, even on our national television. Surely, inciting to kill is much worse than inciting racial hatred!

What happens if one of our ministers, or politicians, is kidnapped on foreign soil? I am sure that total paralysis will not be the name of that game.

And what about the protocol on abortion signed by the Maltese government and the European Union just before the Maltese voted on entry into the EU in 2003?

Again, what about the proposal by the Deputy Prime Minister to entrench our law on abortion in the Maltese Constitution last year?

All this sounds schizophrenic to me in 2006. Yet, it is so very clear who should, and ought to act, at this moment, to protect our unborn children.