Labour yet to take stand on anti-abortion proposal

The Labour Party still does not have an official position on the proposal to entrench an anti-abortion clause in the Constitution, two years after the proposal was made by Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday that the government was waiting for the opposition to form its official position before moving forward with the proposal, whose passage through Parliament would require a two-thirds majority.

In questions sent to Labour leader Alfred Sant, The Times asked what the party's official position was on the proposed entrenchment and whether the MLP had discussed the issue. However, Dr Sant's personal assistant said only that the party had not yet formed an official position.

A number of Labour MPs are known to support the proposal. They were among 36 MPs from both parties who joined 40,000 other signatories to a petition expressing support for entrenchment. The petition was organised by pro-life group Gift of Life, which were the first to come out with the proposal.

In May 2005, Dr Borg had stated that the government was proposing that the law prohibiting abortion should be entrenched in the Constitution and that it had been in touch with the opposition about the matter.

When contacted, Gift of Life spokesman Paul Vincenti recalled that three years ago the MLP had said it would be carrying out a study of the proposed Constitutional amendment. The group had a private meeting with the MLP leadership in 2004 and provided it with detailed information on its proposal.

"To us, this demonstrated that the MLP had taken a serious approach to the proposed amendment, something which we in the pro-life movement appreciate greatly to this day. This matter is simply about acting in a congruent pro-life manner upon anti-abortion positions in favour of further protecting the unborn child," he said.

Mr Vincenti said that since everyone seemed to agree that abortion amounted to killing a human being unlawfully, the group believed that the MLP should have no problem taking a position in favour of the amendment.

"We continue to urge the Labour leadership to take a clear position as soon as possible so that we can all move on with protecting the unborn child from conception."

He said it was reasonable for the government to ask the MLP leadership to declare its position before proposing the amendment in Parliament.