In my contribution to The Times, Trafficking Of Unborn Humans (July 16) I wrote: "When the abortionist's 'clinic' is on foreign territory, land or ship s/he is beyond the reach of Maltese law (although we have also extradition and child abduction laws!)..."
The law report in The Times (September 1) narrates the case of an abducted child and the role of the Malta Director of the Department of Standards for Social Protection in child abduction. This according to the provisions of Chapter 410 of the laws of Malta, the Child Abduction and Custody Act 2000, which ratified two international conventions relating to international child abduction.
It appears that when a pregnant woman decides to have an abortion overseas, with the clear intent to terminate the life of - to kill - the unborn child and subsequently leaves Malta for this purpose, she has, effectively, abducted the child, probably also against the wishes of the natural father.
According to the Malta Domestic Violence Law 2005, the unborn child has a legal status to be given "legal protection" from "any type of violence", including local or overseas abortion.
The Times' law report deals with a request to "remove" a child from Malta to Turkey for custody purposes.
In an attempted abortion overseas, a Maltese woman tries to remove an unborn child from Malta, to wherever, specifically to kill him.
The Malta Child Abduction Law makes equal provision for the "return" of an abducted child to Malta.
It seems the Maltese law on abduction, through the director of Standards and Social Protection, who is the "central authority" for this purpose in Malta, can also reach and protect an unborn child in any other land which ratified the UN Convention on Child Abduction through joint action with the "central authority" of that particular land.
The Malta court case makes reference to provisions in the Convention, and, therefore, the Malta Act, about "grave risks that the child's return (to Turkey) would expose the child to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place the child in an intolerable situation". In the case of an abducted unborn child the scenario is not "harm" but death... much worse!
I am sure the Maltese court would have argued in a similar way if it were a case of the removal of an unborn child from Malta for the purpose of death. In fact the Maltese courts have already argued, and decided, in this way in the Persiano and Borg cases a few years ago. Both cases concerned suspected abortion overseas.
According to the Maltese Domestic Violence Law, Aġenzija Appoġġ is the "designated authority" to legally protect also the unborn child from domestic violence... also from abortion, locally or overseas.
According to the same law, the Domestic Violence Commission has the responsiblity to advise the Minister of Social Policy on the best ways to protect the unborn child from domestic violence... also from abortion, locally or overseas.
It appears that the director of Standards for Social Protection has already tried to protect an abducted child, through the local courts, from what the court considered also "physical and psychological harm" in the Malta-Turkey case this year.
It is now becoming clear the director can also protect an abducted unborn child from very grave "physical and psychological harm", from domestic violence, from abortion overseas, from death, even if he or she has to issue a care order in the first place.
All three institutions mentioned in the two preceeding paragraphs fall under the Minister of Social Policy, although in the case of abduction the "central authority" is answerable to the Minister of Justice.
What about a concerted effort regarding abortion overseas from the tandem composed of the two ministries? Both ministers are known to be pro-life activists. If, for some technical reasons, this is not possible, Parliament, composed solely of two big parties which are both pro-life, can make this possible!
UK official statistics confirm that abortions from Malta are taking place in the UK. Sicly is known to be a very convenient place for abortions from Malta. Most probably abortions on the Dutch ship are taking place.
Unborn Maltese children must be protected from abortions overseas.