I support, in the strongest possible terms, the move by the Women’s Rights Foundation to get the State to legalise the licensing, importation and distribution of the morning-after pill.

The main argument here is the right that people have to make choices about things that profoundly concern their bodies and their personal and social lives. Unavoidably, however, it lapses into the question of whether or not the pill causes an abortion. There are two contrasting views.

The first is held by, among others, the US-based Mayo Clinic. Accreditation does matter, and the Mayo is consistently ranked among the top medical research institutions in the world. It is the top-ranked in the US in a number of fields that include, very significantly, gynaecology.

The Mayo has this to say about the pill: “Morning-after pills do not end a pregnancy that has implanted […] the morning-after pill isn’t the same as mifepristone (Mifeprex), also known as RU-486 or the abortion pill. This drug terminates an established pregnancy – one in which the fertilised egg has attached to the uterine wall and has already begun to develop.”

It is clear that the experts at the Mayo Clinic think that implantation is a necessary condition for a pregnancy to exist. Curiously, the Maltese word ‘żammet’, used to describe the onset of a pregnancy, is in line with the latest research. It follows that, since the morning-after pill does not end an implanted pregnancy, it does not end a pregnancy at all. In other words, it does not cause an abortion.

The second point of view is held by, among others, Gift of Life Malta. The organisation is not currently listed among the top medical research institutions in the world. Although its exact ranking in the field of gynaecology is not known, it is thought to be not very high.

Still, it is fair to report that the re­searchers at Gift of Life Malta think that pregnancy does not require implantation. Rather, it starts at the very moment the egg is fertilised. It follows that the morning-after pill causes an abortion.

In medicine as in other scientific disciplines, it makes sense to go by the latest research produced by the best researchers and reviewed by their peers. I am, of course, free to set up an NGO promoting the use of linseed oil as a cure for ingrown toenails, but I shouldn’t be too upset if people failed to heed my advice and hobbled to a doctor instead.

The plea for good sense does not begin and end with science. There are at least three traps to be avoided on this one.

First, it is simply not good enough for politicians to stand aside and dither. The Nationalist Party appears not to have an opinion just yet. Jason Azzopardi has told the press that the topic still needed to be discussed within the parliamentary group, and that the party would stand firm against abortion. The second bit is beneath comment, the first not terribly convincing.

As for Labour, Owen Bonnici and Chris Cardona have said that they are in favour of a debate on the morning-after pill. But what does that mean exactly? No such argument was made for the gender identity bill, for example. In that case, and rightly, the Labour government just went ahead with what it deemed a move towards greater gender equality.

It is clear that the experts at the Mayo Clinic think that implantation is a necessary condition for a pregnancy to exist

We do not need politicians to tell us whether or not, and when, to have debates. They’re equally useless when they scurry to the safety of committees and parliamentary groups. We expect them to stick their necks out and take clear positions.

The second trap is the slippery slope argument. The people at Gift of Life Malta in particular delight in it – when they’re not deep in cutting-edge research on blastocyst implantation, that is.

The morning-after pill is the thin end of the wedge, the argument goes. If we legalised it, the rest would follow as night follows day. Abortion would be next, and before long we’d be bashing babies’ brains out against the brick wall of “foreign-sponsored attacks on life in Malta” (Gift of Life’s words, not mine).

Terrible, except it doesn’t follow. The Women’s Rights Foundation are being very specific in their demands. They simply want the morning-after pill to be freely available. They haven’t said anything about abortion, which the pill isn’t, nor have I heard them generically attack life (whatever that might mean). The legalisation of abortion would require a separate discussion altogether; as for attacks on life, we’d all be dead anyway.

The point is that the slippery slope argument is rubbish. It’s a bit like saying that criminals should not be punished in any way, because any form of punishment would degenerate into public hangings and pulling out tongues with red-hot pincers.

The third piece of deception is what I might call the argument from moral retribution. It’s outlined in popular form in a 1926 essay by Bertrand Russell called ‘The harm that good men do’. Russell does a wonderful job and is worth quoting:

“Consider, again, such a matter as venereal disease: it is known that this can be almost entirely prevented by suitable precautions taken in advance, but owing to the activities of good men this knowledge is disseminated as little as possible, and all kinds of obstacles are placed in the way of its utilisation. Consequently sin still secures its ‘natural’ punishment […]”

I’ve a feeling that a good chunk of the crusade against the morning-after pill is not about blastocysts or placentas at all. Rather, it is about sex – more specifically, about the immorality of almost all its forms. It is especially about women who engage in this diabolical practice, and who must be suitably punished by having babies they don’t want.

Much the same arguments were made about contraception, until people realised that a dozen screaming babies were too severe a retribution. Gift of Life Malta seem to have settled on one, possibly two, as a more up-to-date punishment. Nappies are considerably more expensive nowadays, so it equals out.

mafalzon@hotmail.com

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