Labour European Parliament candidate Sharon Ellul Bonici believes the state should not interfere in decisions such as abortion and gay marriage because these are issues that could be overruled in the European courts.

The views of the MEP hopeful were highlighted by the pro-life lobby group Gift of Life, which said it was "alarmed" by comments in this sense she had made online.

Writing on the social network site Facebook, the Labour candidate referred to Gift of Life's campaign to have anti-abortion laws entrenched in the Constitution, saying: "The state should not constrain a woman from terminating her pregnancy, let alone entrench it in our Constitution. The situation in Malta is not tragic only because abortion is available elsewhere in Europe. Had this not been so, we would have faced a tragedy, with underground abortions and their consequences".

When asked about this comment, Ms Ellul Bonici refused to say whether she was pro-choice or not and said she was not campaigning for abortion. She said that if faced with a vote on this issue she would follow the official party line which was anti-abortion.

However, Gift of Life pointed out that being against abortion but defending the right to legal abortion was clearly not pro-life.

The Facebook page on which she posted her comments was set up in September for people who feel that the pro-life group is trying to "impose its religious fundamentalist beliefs on others by trying to entrench an anti-abortion clause in the Constitution".

The pro-life group said it was very alarmed by her comments and contacted her for clarification. According to the group, she replied via e-mail saying she joined the debate to pass on information that was mainly EU related. The MEP candidate accused the group of bombarding her with calls and e-mails asking her to retract her comment and declare in writing that she was against abortion or "face the consequences".

After she refused, she said, the group's president, Paul Vincenti, "proceeded with his blackmail and demanded the PL leader strike me off the party's candidates list".

The group, however, denied ever blackmailing or politically threatening Ms Ellul Bonici and said that what it was pursuing was a clarification of her comments.

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