Helena Dalli (April 20) starts a personal attack on me by stating that Gift of Life (GoL) brought Fr Dennis Wilde to Malta "from the United States to tell us, among other things, that abortion is bad". She is wrong. GoL never invited Fr Wilde to Malta. Fr Wilde most likely came as part of his organisation's own international pro-life work and is not associated to GoL. His visit was coordinated by a separate entity.
Ms Dalli goes on to say that she does not know of anyone who is suggesting the de-legalisation of abortion in Malta. I beg to differ. A candidate from her own party contesting the upcoming MEP elections, Sharon Ellul Bonici, commented on a public Facebook group, set up to give a voice to those who are pro-choice for abortion in Malta. Among other references against the proposed right to life constitutional amendment, she wrote: "The state should not constrain a woman from terminating her pregnancy". (Ms Ellul Bonnici has publicly declared that she is not campaigning for abortion to be introduced.)
What she said meant that the state should not have laws that make abortion illegal. We spoke up about this, much to the disagreement of this candidate. We found her reaction odd, given that GoL simply repeated what she had already publicly expressed. She even accused GoL of blackmailing her, yet she never went to the police to make any charges as one may have expected her to do following these serious allegations.
Ms Dalli goes on to say: "Why is GoL obsessed with pasting bits of the Criminal Code to our Constitution? It doesn't make sense and that's why there are people, including myself, who suspect that Gift of Life's pointless campaign is being stepped up because an election is close. They've been there before".
Wrong again. GoL never asked for parts of the Criminal Code to be entrenched into the Constitution. We have consistently campaigned for article 33 of the Constitution to be amended to guarantee that the right to life clearly includes the unborn child. Surely Ms Dalli is not opposed to the unborn child having the right to life!
Apparently, Ms Dalli sees some advantage in politicising this issue and linking it with elections. This is not the case. Surely she would not expect us to remain silent about candidates who are a threat to the unborn child's right to life. Her suspicions are pointless.
The amendment to Malta's Constitution is indeed necessary because political pressure to legalise abortion is slowly increasing in Malta. There are now a number of columnists and journalists who are actively using their medium to promote abortion in Malta. The Facebook group mentioned earlier, set up by a columnist from another paper, is a clear example of this.
There has never been a more important moment in our history to come together politically and do what we can to protect the unborn child. The amendment has not happened because the PL has not taken an official position on the right to life amendment. To go through, the amendment would need two-thirds of the House. The PN has expressed support for the amendment but for it to take place the PL needs to support it as well.
We collected over 39,000 signatures in favour of such an amendment, from citizens who come from all political backgrounds. Eighty-five per cent of the population wants the right to life amendment. I am sure that if the unborn could speak they would too. I appeal to Ms Dalli to refrain from lowering these values to the level of political brinkmanship and personal attacks. The Maltese are tired of this. Citizens have a right to know which of the candidates are pro-life. Only then can they choose their preferred representatives.