Gift of Life may halt campaign

Gift of Life, the pro-life group, will put a stop to its campaign to include an anti-abortion clause in the Constitution unless the government makes a move soon.

Foundation spokesman Paul Vincenti told The Times it was high time the government went ahead with the constitutional amendment.

Although abortion is illegal here, Gift of Life has been lobbying for a clause in the Constitution protecting the unborn child since, it holds, this would make it more difficult for a future government to allow abortion. Gift of Life had done everything it possibly could to bring about the change, Mr Vincenti said, but it could not continue campaigning forever. It needed to move on to helping women who became pregnant unexpectedly.

Its programme called Hope is currently assisting five women by providing them with moral and material support.

"If government is really pro-life, we expect it to do something about it," he stressed.

Two years ago, the pro-life group argued that the Constitution should be amended to protect the unborn child.

In May 2005, Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg went a step further and announced the government's intention to entrench the anti-abortion law in the Constitution. However, Mr Vincenti yesterday complained that no concrete action had been taken in spite of the fact that 35 of the 65 MPs backed the group's proposal.

Around 35,000 people have signed a petition in favour, including the 35 MPs.

"We simply cannot understand this delay," said Mr Vincenti.

Unless the government took a firm stand against abortion, pro-abortionists might soon start to subtly lobby for terminations in certain cases, including rape and severe disability, he said.

The group has requested a meeting with the Prime Minister over the matter.