Maybe the Pope could send a memo down our way one of these days, explaining that, trying to outbreed the Protestants by ensuring that Catholic women have no access to contraception, is no longer the Vatican’s strategy for world domination.
At least, I hope it isn’t because many Maltese people seem to think that’s the plan. Like Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who refused to surrender until 1974 because he wouldn’t believe that WWII was over, they grimly march on, oblivious to the changing world around them. If this is vaguely reminiscent of the opening sketch in Monty Python’s The meaning of life, that’s because it is.
Malta was rudely awakened from its early summer lethargy by the news that the Women’s Rights Foundation had filed a judicial protest demanding that the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) be made available in Malta. Let’s consider that in a little more detail.
The ECP, a product so commonplace and non-controversial that, in most places, it’s available over the counter without a prescription, or even from vending machines, is still being denied to Maltese women and it’s taking an actual judicial protest to maybe get things creaking forward slowly. This pill is available in every other European country, including traditionally conservative places like Poland and Northern Ireland.
As its name implies, the ECP is a contraceptive. It functions by delaying or preventing ovulation – the release of an egg from the ovaries – so that the sperm cannot fertilise the egg. Since there is no fertilisation, there is no embryo, there is no pregnancy, there should be no problem.
Years ago, there were some American pro-life groups that expressed the concern that this pill might somehow interfere with the implantation of an embryo. The American medicines authority, the FDA, adopting a precautionary approach, required a warning to be added to the instruction leaflets advising people that there might be that effect. Since then, more research was done and the conclusions were clear: No, the morning-after pill cannot prevent implantation of an embryo, nor harm an embryo once it’s been fertilised. Its only effect is to prevent fertilisation from taking place.
Since there is no fertilisation, there is no embryo, there is no pregnancy, there should be no problem
It’s worth noting that even the Catholic Church – hardly progressive in women’s rights – accepts the fact that the morning-after pill cannot induce an abortion. The Catholic Health Association’s Journal, Health Progress, states that it “works only as a contraceptive and does not cause abortions” in its issue of January-February 2010.
The Vatican Insider reported in February 2013 that German bishops had decided to offer the morning-after pill to rape victims at Catholic hospitals and Cardinal Joachim Meisner, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, agreed with and defended their position.
Yet, here we are in Malta in 2016, still having to deal with people hysterically insisting that the ECP kills babies! Saying we are being holier than the Pope could not be more apt.
Since it’s clear that the ECP has a purely contraceptive effect one has to wonder, what is the motive behind these people who keep trying to trick people into thinking that it doesn’t? Could it be that they still have the mentality that a woman’s place is in the kitchen with a bun in the oven? That’s not so far-fetched as some might think. Some comments that have been posted – by women, no less – include that “using your body to have fun is wrong” and “if you don’t want to have a child you shouldn’t have sex”.
It’s bad enough that there are men who spout misogynistic statements without women repeating similar ideas. At least, if they wish to live by those rules, let other women make their own choices.
Yes, women making their own choices! Unbelievable but true and that includes the choice to have sex purely for pleasure, without getting pregnant. That’s where contraceptives come in handy. There’s a wide variety but none that is 100 per cent guaranteed to work. A condom can come off, a pill can be forgotten if a couple feel playful some time during the night. And, yes, a woman can be raped. It can even happen within a relationship.
Whatever the situation, a woman should be able to get an emergency contraceptive pill and without hassle. It’s another form of contraception, one that can be used after sex.
Some people have remarked that women could just take an overdose of another pill. But why should women have to resort to overdoses, with all the possible risks involved, to get something as basic as contraception?
It’s no surprise that, after achieving the right to vote, one of the most important battles that women fought for is the right to control their own reproduction. Without this, there can be no gender equality.
Ramon Casha is chairman of the Malta Humanist Association.