Council of Europe and Malta's abortion 'model'

I refer to Tony Mifsud's letter The Facts About the CoE (August 11). Legally, only the Maltese House of Representatives can make changes to Malta's law on abortion and I do not see that happening in the foreseeable future. However, outside bodies can put pressure which may bring about a change in attitudes over time.

In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Maltese parliamentarians of both parties have, to their credit, always spoken and voted against abortion. But they can be outvoted. Thankfully resolutions of the Assembly are not binding on member states. In 2005 the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Tysiac v Poland found that Poland had failed to safeguard Ms Tysiac's right to the effective respect for her private life. The woman in question suffered from severe myopia and requested a termination of pregnancy on the grounds that her disability would worsen after a third pregnancy. She was refused a termination of pregnancy and alleged that her sight had worsened. However, Polish and Maltese laws are different and every case is judged on its merits. So it is most unlikely that the judgment in this case could be applied to any possible Maltese case.

Swedish MP Brigitta Ohlsson has recently mounted an internet campaign in a bid to exert pressure on the EU to force countries like Malta to introduce the right of abortion. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Swedish Social Democrat Thomas Hammarberg, has also put subtle pressure on Ireland, Poland and San Marino to "liberalise" their abortion laws. His method is to quote approvingly anonymous pro-abortion NGOs while ignoring those opposing it. The following quotes from his report on Ireland (www.coe.int) illustrate what I mean.

"In practice, abortion is largely unavailable in Ireland in almost all circumstances. Some NGOs argue that the legal limbo leads to a situation which disproportionately favours the interest of the foetus over the rights of pregnant women..."

"Some civil society representatives advocate that access to abortion services should be granted to all women in the country, particularly when a woman's health is at risk, she is pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or there is evidence of severe foetal anomaly... NGOs have underlined that certain vulnerable women, especially young and migrant women, have particular difficulties in accessing abortion services abroad."

"The Commissioner is concerned that despite the already existing case law allowing for abortion under limited circumstances, no legislation is in place to ensure this happening in practice... He urges the Irish authorities and the legislator to ensure that legislation is enacted to resolve this problem and adequate medical services are provided in Ireland to carry out legal abortions in line with the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court."

One of the realities of European politics is that the Nordics are often so convinced of the rightness of their position that they try to impose it as a so-called "model" on all others. The Swedish model may be good for Sweden, but the Maltese model is best for Malta.