Tuesday, 20th May 2008
Unborn children have rights too
When commenting on the resolution on abortion in Strasbourg in his contribution to The Times (May 3) Emy Bezzina made a number of gratuitous statements about the rights of women to have abortions.
He did not make reference to the fact that abortion is not only about the condition of women but also about the condition of the unborn child women carry in their womb. An unborn child is not a wart, or a cancerous growth, which all women have every a right to remove from their body.
He is a human person and, in Malta, has the right to life which is protected by Maltese laws. These are the provisions against abortion in the criminal code of more than 100 years ago, the Children and Young Persons Act of 1980, the Commissioner of Children Act of 2003, and the Domestic Violence Act of 2005.
The Domestic Violence Law specifically includes the unborn child as "a member of the household", as any battered woman, to be protected by law from "any" type of violence.
That includes abortion, which is the worst type of violence against any unborn child.
That the police have so far not used the provisions of this Act to protect also the unborn child from "any" type of violence in Malta, including incitement to violent action, through abortion, to kill an unborn child, says something about law enforcement in Malta and not, as Dr Bezzina asserts, that "Malta has not the slightest right or authority to prevent abortions from happening".
In the past few years Aġenzija Appoġġ, not infrequently with the physical presence, and at times the active assistance, of the police used the provisions of the Children and Young Persons Act of 1980 to issue more than 200 care orders to remove children from the care of their parents because of grave neglect or serious abuse, of any kind.
These measures do not make Malta a "backward" country, or a police state. They show the very high regard the Maltese people have for their children, "before as well as after birth" as proclaimed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) of 1989.
Dr Bezzina mentions the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
He seems to be oblivious to the proposal made to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the EU in September 2007 by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality towards the drafting of the first EU Charter on the Rights of the Child.
The Committee proposed that the family environment should provide a favourable framework for protecting children's rights and that the EU Charter should be rooted in the values and principles laid down in the UNCRC.
The UNCRC, in paragraph 9 of its preamble, proclaims that "the child..needs..appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth".
Abortions abroad also can be prevented because the unborn child has a right to life, wherever. It can be difficult, agonising and traumatic to prevent a woman from commiting an abortion by the force of law to protect the life of the unborn child.
It is equally difficult, agonising and traumatic, though, to issue care orders.
It should be incumbent on Maltese society to invest in a massive educational and promotional campaign to convince women comtemplating an abortion to use the very compassionate, professional counselling, therapeutic, medical and social work services, like fostering and adoption, as alternatives to abortion.
Aġenzija Appoġġ and the Gift of Life Foundation, through its programme HOPE, already provide these services.
As an eloquent lawyer Dr Bezzina could start talking and writing on the special privilege women enjoy when giving life, till birth, to their unborn children.
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Comments
When speaking on these issues, your opinions would be far greater respected and taken seriously if you STICK to scientific facts and not blindly repeat the uninformed and well marketed tales of pro-aborts who are driven not by truths but deceit and financial gain to the detriment of the woman and society as a whole.
Respectfully yours Maryanne C Vella
When children are not yet born they need mostly their parents and medical doctors not legal doctors. But, thank God, as the criminal law stands in Malta, every person, including the police, can resort to the application of the law, when the occasion arises, to the benefit of the unborn, even against the mother's or the parents' consent. Action is taken "ex officio".
Well... prove it! Cite your sources. How do you know it's the brain that makes us human? Another hypothesis I could pull out of nowhere now is that a structure in the brain, which is present already at conception, is that what makes us a person (whatever that may be). But as you can see, that is equally a story as much as yours.
It is a simple, clear fact that at the moment of conception, there is a new, individual human being. Now, naturally, we have to start introducing new concepts and theories to circumvent that fact, just as it happens with racists. Some people, for some reason, cannot accept that someone with a different skin colour is a human being like us. Just as for some reason, some people cannot accept the fact that someone that is taking his/her time to develop in the womb is a human being... like us.
At what age does an embryonic human being has the right to be represented by a lawyer, the state, the police or whoever in defence of his/her right to live?
@c.busuttil: Try talking to a pregnant woman and see whether she tells you "I'm going to have a baby", or "I've had a baby, but it hasn't been born yet".
@Sylvana Zarb Darmanin: I don't expect to change your mind, but at least perhaps you can understand that if someone does not believe that life begins at conception, abortion does not carry the same ethical / moral meaning that it does for you. I cannot be "inhuman towards the unborn child" if there is no such thing as an unborn child.
Albert Spiteri, you are right to defend those already born and to encourage people to ensure that they are properly treated. Indeed people should fight against all the evils in our society, particularly where they affect the vulnerable in our society. I trust that you also apply the same importance to the unborn.
Organisations which respect human life cannot expect to concentrate on other areas too. They exist for particular reasons. Mr Spiteri might like to join an organisation which suits what he is capable of doing to help other people.
How is the belief that abortion will set a woman's life back to normal again been made popular? If a pregnancy might turn her life upside down, abortion does even worse, let alone solve things. What really solves things are the many, better alternatives instead of abortion.
"they have the right to judge women, even in case of rape."
Judge? Strange word you used there seeing we're trying to ensure the liberty to live is respected.
"Why is a woman's life worth less?"
Worthless? Another strange word. I respect a woman's life just as much as I respect an embryo's life and that's why I'm saying that abortion is not dignifying (and rather unhealthy for the mind) for women.
The others are the four political parties, the main trade unions - GWU, UHM, MUT, MUMN, MUPP – the Association of Local Councils, the Colleges of Parish Priests of Malta and Gozo, a good number of government departments, agencies and commissions, and a very good number of civil society, youth and church organisations.
I am surprised you never came across the contributions of MUCM in the local press. The MUCM held or was involved in the organisation of five national conferences on the unborn child and also published the first Maltese Charter on the Dignity, Rights, Protection and Development of the Unborn Child with messages from the President of the Republic, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity , the Shadow Minister for Social Solidarity and the Commissioner for Children. You hold that abortion is only a woman’s business. Amazing coming from a mother of four (?) children!
Would Mr Casha be there with a knife to do the job just before the head pops out? Why is murder to kill somebody who is inconvenient to you, yet not murder to destroy an innocent creature in womb which is inconvenient to you? It is not just catholics or other christians who are against abortion. What an insult to all those others who respect human life! Life is so cheap - unless it is your own, of course!
Gordon Brown was not just opposed by Catholics! It is true that some men abnegate their responsibilities, and that is appalling. But given that it is a medical fact -(pro-abortionists love those!) that women are designed to give birth. That cannot be changed! There is more than one person to consider at pregnancy.
I hope you know what you are saying, Mr. Grima, because scientists give an unending amount of reasons for why a fertilized ovum is a human being. All human beings have a right to life so, logically, that fertilized ovum cannot be killed.
Oh, and thank you Daphne Caruana Galizia, for telling us what men shouldn't be doing.
I am dumbfounded how you managed to be so inhuman towards the unborn child! How could you express such views towards a human-being when only on 16th May 2008 you were defending the birds?!! Do you really place an animal before a human being??!! Or maybe you just hate humans! How can you describe hunters as being "camo-clad gunmen, killing machines and often criminals and vandals" when you defend abortion. You even accused hunters as being inhuman. But then there is a Maltese saying which goes: "L-ispizjar milli jkollu jaghtik".
As a mother and as a human being with Christian values, I strongly believe that nobody has a right to end the life of the unborn child. I feel terrified when I realise that our values and priorities are getting mixed up.
Finally, abortion was among the 77 exceptions granted to Malta during EU Accession Negotiations. Let us pray that this will not be next to be imposed on us by the EU, after the issue of Spring Hunting. God forbid!!
But of course, that is impossible, who in their right mind would actually believe such clueless rubbish? It would seem that Ramon does. Oh well, at least I get a good laugh in a boring day reading his incredibley outlandish comments that presents as facts. Ramon, you should write fiction, you will be a best seller in no time. Good luck with the rest of whatever you do in life. SA
an unborn child DOES exist no matter how hard you try to convince us.
If the pregnancy goes on uninterrupted, then a child is born,. A 'person who is already alive but has yet to pass through the birth canal' is called un unborn child - try and ask a pregnant mother who already fells her 'child' kicking. The uterus is simply an incubator, so much so when the child is born before its time, it continues its development in an artificial incubator or at the stage do you still prefer not to call it a child?
You obviously hate the concept of pregnancy and are bent on writing anything, just as long as you throw your hatred about. Well good luck to you sir, I hope you have a load of friends in your lifetime. With that sort of attitude, I doubt it, even though I am sure you will reply claiming you are the most popular thing since pop corn.
I think children and parents would greatly appreciate a man with a need for an issue like Tony Mifsud should he dedicate some of his time and efforts to the protection of already born and already long-suffering children. I would appreciate listening to what Mr. Mifsud has to say regarding the grossly immoral protective attitude adopted by our judiciary and corrupt media charlatans regarding pedophiles. I would also appreciate listening to Mr. Mifsud's comments on what is now global common knowledge regarding the daily rampant child abuse in horror town Paceville. It would make most interesting listening should Mr. Mifsud care consider parleying on the negation of children's rights and dignity by football nurseries.
I think you'll find that untrue Mr. Casha. It's something being propagated by those that have to gain. Still, whether it's an unborn child or not by your definition, it is undeniably a human being. All human beings have the right to live so logically, even at conception, a new individual is formed (due to genetics, etc).
Naturally, the people that have to gain from all this still managed to come with some fantastical story such as personhood, balls of cells, choice, liberty and whatnot. Yet, even though they did come up with these stories they still failed to give a reason why an embryo is not a human being, just like you and me.
How much more credible these organisations would be if they weren't set up, led and driven by middle-aged men. Men discussing women's business...men discussing whether women should be allowed to have abortions or not....men discussing what women should or should not do. And when the baby is born to all these girls and young women, where are the men? Oh yes, they've done a runner. Malta, all the way...
1. There is no such thing as an unborn child. It is an oxymoron.
As a lawyer I would expect Dr Bezzina to explain two things:
1) How can the so called "right" of the woman to abort override the unborn's right to life?
2) Why should abortion be decriminalised when killing a person from the moment he/she is born is a criminal activity?
Decriminalsing abortion does not render it a moral deed. It undermines the unborn's right to life.