Internet abortion

The headline news 'Abortion for Maltese just a click away' (The Sunday Times, July 13) shows the gravity of the problem that we are facing to safeguard human life and the deceitful means being sought by the pro-aborts to reach their objectives of chemically aborting the unborn.

One of the reasons that this DIY method of abortion is being promoted so vigorously is down to the reality of a worldwide decline in the availability of medical professionals who are willing to carry out surgical abortions. The abortion providers are strategically repositioning themselves to be better poised to take advantage of the changes occurring in their market.

The pill serves yet a second very convenient purpose to the abortion industry. It shifts the matter of abortion away from the public eye and into the privacy of one's home, helping to steer clear of the usual unwelcome negative publicity the abortion industry so often grapples with.

Abortion is a very lucrative business. Some have estimated the turnover generated by this global industry at well in excess of $220 billion. Abortion providers prey on the anxiety and fear of women who face a crisis pregnancy.

At times, these women are abandoned by the father of the child, threatened by their parents and convinced and goaded by their friends that, as the child is unwanted, it must therefore be aborted. The reality is that the child is indeed always wanted, at least by someone else.

This internet abortion development was publicised by Rebecca Gomperts of the abortion ship Women on Waves (WOW) after her new abortion vessel, a high end sailing boat christened rather unashamedly Harmony, ran aground on its way to help abort babies in Ecuador four weeks ago.

Like the abortion website, WOW is promoting self-administered RU-486 abortions in countries where abortion is illegal. Dr Gomperts openly claimed that "every seven minutes a woman dies unnecessarily from an illegal abortion." WOW then goes on to promote illegal abortions by telling mothers in crisis pregnancies where abortion is illegal to order the RU-486 abortion cocktail online after getting an online doctor 'consultation'.

We have heard our local medical experts express their unanimous alarm at these recent developments. One can only hope that women in their predicament will not be blinded to the very real potential dangers of virtual internet diagnoses and treatments. Pregnant women at risk of an abortion who are surrounded by people, friends and relatives that are ready to support them positively are far less likely to feel that they have to choose such drastic solutions such as abortion.

Many women would be spared the terrible lonely agony of being post-abortive if society as a whole would do the right thing and support them more proactively. Records show that to date about 13 women worldwide have died after using the abortion pill RU-486. If we were talking about any other pharmaceutical, then the drug would have been with-drawn.