Updated: Gift of Life regrets PL MEPs' vote

Gift of Life, the pro-life group, said today that it applauded all Maltese MEPs for voting against pro-abortion terminology and language in paragraphs 42 part 2 and 3 of the Cashman report in the European Parliament's position on the UN Millennium Development Goals. The vote was taken last week.

The group regretted, however, that, despite having initially voted in a pro-life manner, the two MEPs from the PL then went on to vote in favour of the entire resolution containing the very same language that they had previously voted against.

‘The wilful killing of an unborn child can never be justified. Mothers require support to keep their child and not mechanisms to kill their offspring. We see is no clear reason, based on conclusive evidence, for sexual and reproductive health to be singled out as being an area of particular concern in ensuring public health for expectant mothers. Access to other primary health services such as skilled birth attendants as well and better basic health care during pregnancy, have proved to be far more effective in reducing rates of maternal mortality. Countries with the most restrictive rules so far as access to abortion is concerned have the lowest levels of maternal mortality'

EDWARD SCICLUNA REACTS

In a reaction, Labour MEP Edward Scicluna said that back in 2000, the EU had made a commitment to the world's poor to step up its efforts in the fight against poverty. The UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set a number of targets including reducing by 66% the mortality rate of children under five years of age; halving the number of people living on less than a dollar a day and suffering from hunger, and reducing by 75% the maternal mortality ratio. But donors are failing to live up to their promises, and EU countries were no exception.

In preparation for the UN high-level meeting in September 2010, the report by the EP Committee on Development was a wake-up call for the EU to work harder to deliver on the MDGs, This report was approved in the European Parliament last week and Labour MEPs were proud that, along with a substantial majority, they voted in favour of this report.

"This report was not about abortion, and to claim otherwise is completely untrue. Rather it is about ensuring that we as Europeans meet our promises to the developing world made in 2000. Everybody in Malta knows that I, together with my Labour MEP colleagues, are opposed to abortion and have consistently voted against every amendment or recommendation which made reference to abortion. I am a politician of conscience and principle - and find accusations that I support abortion deeply malicious and the lowest form of gutter politics," Prof Scicluna said.