Of politics and abortion (2)

With reference to Gift of Life's letter (April 21), kindly note that I did not write that the group "brought over" Rev. Wilde, but that he was invited. If Rev. Wilde wasn't invited, things are even worse, as he then came over to Malta on his own initiative to do here what Priests for Life push for in his country, i.e. stepping up anti-abortion campaigns close to election time.

I can understand this stance in America since abortion is legal there but I fail to see the point of such a campaign in Malta where abortion is a crime. Thus it's even richer of Rev. Wilde to come here, uninvited, and patronise us on something regarding which our country is covered, while his isn't.

I now understand that it was because Rev. Wilde wasn't Gift of Life's guest that the latter failed to inform him that Malta has a protocol annexed to the EU accession treaty which declares that "Nothing in the Treaty on European Union, or in the Treaties establishing the European Communities, or in the Treaties or Acts modifying or supplementing those Treaties, shall affect the application in the territory of Malta of national legislation relating to abortion."

Had Gift of Life informed Rev. Wilde they would have saved him from slipping on this banana skin when, as reported in The Times, he said that he sees Gift of Life's proposal for the abortion amendment to the Constitution as "imperative to prevent the EU from pressurising Malta into introducing abortion". Informing him would also have spared him the embarrassment he must have felt when he found out, when it was too late, about our fail-safe protocol.