Monday, 1st December 2008 - 11:56CET
Survey shows the Maltese firmly against abortion
A phone survey has confirmed that Malta maintains a very strong pro-life culture, the NGO Gift of LIfe said today.
It said the survey of 500 respondents conducted by Informa found that 84.5% said they disagreed with the legalisation of abortion.
A small percentage believed that abortion should be legalized in exceptional cases, such as in cases of rape 5.6% and when the mother’s life is in danger 6.2%.
"We believe that when people understand the facts about these two delicate issues, that many would change there minds even about abortion in these cases," GOL said.
It said the research also showed that the Maltese continued to support the right to life amendment it was proposing to the Constitution of Malta extending the right to life to the unborn child from conception. The survey showed that 82.7% of the population supported the initiative.
The main findings of the survey were:
Q1. Do you agree with abortion?
91.5% said they disagree.
5.2% said they agree only in some cases.
2.6% stated they are in favour of abortion.
Q2. When do you think that human life begins?
88.7% of the population think that life begins at conception
3.4% said ‘at implantation’
3.2% think it begins at birth.
Out of the 446 respondents who said ‘at conception’, 46% were males and 54% females
Q3. Do you think that abortion should be legalized in Malta?
84.5%, think that abortion should not be legalized
13.5% think it should
2% aren’t sure.
Respondents who agreed that abortion should be legalized in Q3 above, i.e.13.5% of the total population, were then asked a further question to determine in what cases they felt it should legalized for.
Of the 68 respondents who did think that it should be legalized:
45.6% said this should be legalized when the mother’s life is in danger
41.2% of those who agree that abortion should be legalized think it should be legalized when the child is conceived out of rape; 35.3% when the child is deformed.
Gift of Life said that when these findings were expressed as a percentage of the population of Malta and Gozo the conclusions was that 6.2% said this should be the case when the mother’s life was in danger, 5.6% when the child was conceived out of rape and 4.8% when the child was deformed.
Respondents were then asked:
“To make abortion legal in Malta, it would take 50% of members of Parliament, plus one other seat, however, if the Government and opposition came together and amended the Constitution to give the unborn the clear right to life from conception, it would then require the support of two thirds of MPs to legalise abortion and not a simple majority of 50+1 seats as it stands today.”
Do you agree that this amendment should be done by parliament so that it will be harder but not impossible to legalize abortion in Malta in the future?
82.7% said agree with the amendment. With 54.1% of these being females, and 45.9% males.
9.1% do not agree with the amendment 8.2% aren’t sure.
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Comments
I do believe that the majority of Maltese are against abortion, but unless the survey is conducted by people who do not hold a specific agenda it is meaningless. Studies have shown that by merely wording the questions in a certain way you can easily skew results one way or the other.
Here's an example of the same question worded in different ways:
a) Do you agree that an innocent baby should be murdered in the womb if the pregnancy poses risks to the mother?
b) If a woman is likely to die as a result of pregnancy, should she be allowed the choice to terminate the pregnancy?
1) Telephone surveys are never scientific. You need to decalre the date and time of day when the survery was conducted.
2) Of the respondents, how many were men and how many were women?
3) You need to split the results by age group and occupation, as is done in other surveys.
4) Everyone should have been asked the question "should abortion be legalized when the mother’s life is in danger?", and not just those who agree with abortion.
5) What is the margin of error for this survey?
Just because it was conducted by Informa that doesn't mean that the survey isn't flawed.
Wikipedia, a very objective source, describes a human's life cycle as beginning from "the fertilized egg". It's not a question of opinion. It's a biological fact which abortionist conveniently negate to manipulate women in the ways they want.
Please, for truth's sake, just stop spreading misinformation.
Abortion is the killing of a unique human being. Is that a right?
ABORT
TGHANNIQA, MHABBA SAFJA
BHAS-SAFA TAS-SMEWWIET,
IL-BEWSA QED TICCARRAT
MINN QALBET IL-MOHBIET.
BHAS-SHAB F'QALIET IS-SEMA
JITKISSER QTAR IDUB,
IL-FOMM MICHUD L-IMHABBA
GHALL-FORKA MINGHAJR DNUB.
MILL-HAJJA KWIETA KWIETA
BHALL-KWIET TA LEJL MISTUR,
MILL-FOMM LI QATT MA TKELLEM
IL-KLIEM HIEREG IDUR.....
"MA NAFX BIL-BARD JEW SHANA,
MA NAFX BIL-JIEM JEW SNIN,
HALLINI MA' NITWIELED
HALLINI MAL-BNEDMIN.
IX-XEMX BIL-MEWGA SHUNA
ISSAHHAR SEMA U ART,
IS-SIGAR FOMM IL-GONNA
FERRIEHA JIFTHU L-WARD.
IL-QAMAR WENS IL-KWIEKEB
FIS-SEMA FUQ IL FUQ,
HALLINI MA'NITWIELED
HALLINI L-HAJJA NDUQ.
BHAZ-ZIFFA L-ANNIMALI
JILGHABU MAL-HOLQIEN,
TAL-GWIENAH REJXU FL-IKHAL
U BEJTU FIL-WIDIEN.
FUQ WESGHA ART MITLUQA
JITRABBA FTIT HAXIX,
NITOLBOB MA' BIL-HNIENA,
MINN GUFEK TARMINIX !
KAMPNAR QNIEPEN, B'IMHABBA,
BIL-HLEWWA JDOQQ IDOQQ.
L-GHASFUR LIZ-ZGHAR GHERIJA
FIL-BEJTA JZOQQ IZOQQ.
IS-SIGRA L-FROTT LI SAWRET
IZZOMM SA SEBH IL-HSAD.
IN-NAHLA GHALL-GHASEL GWEJJED
MILL-FJUR TISTAD, TISTAD.
INWIEGHDEK, X'HIN NITWIELED
INHARES DRITT F'GHAJNEJK,
KELLIMNI MA' WEGIBNI,
GHIDLI LI TRIDNI HDEJK
BIEX JEKK XI DEMGHA TIXREF
TITBANDALMA HADDEJK,
U JEKK JIRTOGHDU HIEMDA
MXARBIN NILMAH XOFTEJK,
INBUSEK BEWSA MHABBA
IL-BEWSA TAL-HOLQIEN,
LI JEKK TIZZARRAT FLIELE
NIZZARRAT MAGHHA JIEN.
DAQT TMUT DIN L-GHAJTA FGATA
TIRTOGHD MINN GUF L-GHARIX.
KELLIMTEK MA' KELLIMTEK
U XORTA MA SMAJTNIX"
Yes, I'm serious. A fetus is not a child. But I have no intention of debating abortion.,, As I said earlier, the fact of the matter is that even if the Gift of Lift gets its way and this constitution amendment is passed, women will still be able to get an abortion abroad. Only poor people are suffering from these anti-abortion laws.
Q2 At birth
Q4 Only in case of rape , Severe handicap to child, Danger to Mother's life
Il-haga hi tajba jew hazina mhux skond kemm hemm pajjizi li illegizlawha.
F'kas li it-tarbija tkun gejja b'xi dizabilita,hemm problemi etici li peress li mhinix espert fihom mhux se nfgid x'ghandu jsir,izda se nistaqqsi xi mistoqqsijiet.
Jien min jien biex niddeciedi li, ghax tarbija tkun gejja b'dizabilita, nitterminalha l-hajja?
L-interess ta min inkun qed nipprotegi, tat-tarbija jew tieghi?
Jekk jigi accettat fil-principju li tarbija b'disabilita tista titterminala il-hajja fil-guf, tista b'listess principju toqtolha wara li titwieled?
F'kas ta tfajla li giet irrejpjata, li allura ma tahti xejn ghall dak li sar, jien nistaqqsi, x'tahti it-tarbija?Jista wiehed jghamel gustizzja mat-tfajla jekk biha se jikkreja ingustizzja mat-tarbija?
Jista wiehed jghamel tajjeb u hazin fl-istess haga u fl-istess hin?
Jien nahdem ma persuni b'disabilita u nara hafna dbatija, imma fid-dinja hawn xi hadd li ma jbatix? Id-dbatija mhux bilfors tkun tidher minn barra u hu difficli li wiehed jghid liema hi l-akbar u allahares nibdew noqtlu n-nies biex ma nhalluhomx ibatu.
Nixtieq nuri is-soliderjeta tieghi mal-persuni b'disabilita u mal-genituri taghhom li jekk fil-genna ma jkunux huma fil-filliera ta quddiem, ma nafx min irid ikun.
"And this is resulting in more jobless single mothers unable to make ends meet, and consequently the taxpayer is having to fork out more money to support these people."
Are you serious? I hope you don't really mean what you wrote! what about the child? isn't it even in the picture?
Would any true loving parent choose to sacrifice the life of his/her living and loving daughter, in the prime of her life,(often bringing up a small child or more), to spare a still developing foetus? I don't believe any true parent would.
Again, would any loving parent wish his/her daughter to carry a pregnancy resulting from rape, especially, as so often happens in such cases, this causes a life-long trauma to women who refuse to bear children of repulsive and revolting monsters.
I consider this survey as superficial and lacking in seriousness and was made up to fit the requirements of the NGO concerned.
So, abortion is the killing of a human being. I doubt any mother would want to kill her children; I think it's more the doctors that want mothers to perform abortions (for the "ka-ching").
With regards to A. Saliba claiming discrimination: Isn't it discrimination to disallow the right to life to people who haven't been lucky enough to be born yet? It's very easy to call "discrimination", when outside the womb, isn't it?
Gift Of Life can keep shoving their propaganda down people's throats... but ultimately the people who want to get an abortion will still get an abortion abroad. Frankly these anti-abortion laws in Malta are nothing but discrimination against women who cannot afford to get an abortion abroad. And this is resulting in more jobless single mothers unable to make ends meet, and consequently the taxpayer is having to fork out more money to support these people.
However the reason that many other Countries have legalised abortion was to prevent what is known as "back street abortions" where many (mainly young) girls were brutally mistreated by medically untrained oft ruthless money grabbing abortionists often ending up with severe medical conditions often leading to death.
Although I am not aware of the figures involved, it is possible that those in Malta desperate for an abortion are currently going abroad for the treatment.
As good meaning as GOL movement may be, it will not change the desperate need that some have to terminate a pregnancy - If it must be done it should be done with expert medical advice and help without interference of those not personally involved.
Its just plain stupid to waste parliaments and the MPs time 'to give the unborn the clear right to life from conception' when we ALL know that if a women wishes, wants, needs to do an abortion she will, regardless of what there is in the constitution!!!
And can someone answer me in regards of how many Maltese women have been ever sent to prison because they had done an abortion???
Let's all grow up and face reality!
So the margin of errors in this study are very low when compared to the actual difference in the percentage
And yet they have the cheek to call themselves "pro-life".
As far as I am concerned, theirs is the true "culture of death".
The sample size is correct for Malta A larger sample would only show a minimal pecentage difference in te margins of+-1.5 to 2% difference.
The sample is too small.
The majority of respondents are likely to be in the same demographic.
It is also interesting that between 7% and 7.7% of those who disagreed with abortion this it should be legalised.