As a medical man, I presume that Albert Cilia Vincenti (February 28) upholds the Hippocratic oath and abhors abortion. I am therefore baffled by his attempt to mock the arguments of Ivan Padovani in defending the right to life.

Cilia Vincenti seems to ignore certain facts.

Firstly, as abortion in Malta is illegal, the introduction of an abortifacient drug breaks the law of the land.

Secondly, if the medical authorities are aware that certain intrauterine devices are abor-tifacient, allowing their use is also illegal. As Cilia Vincenti upholds democracy so pas-sionately and respects the law of the land, one would expect him to insist that appropriate action be taken to rectify this disgraceful situation.

Thirdly, on investigation, the ‘experts’ Padovani disagrees with may not have the interests of their fellow human beings at heart. On the contrary, one can rightly infer that egoistic financial interests cloud their objectivity when they wrongly term as contraceptives, drugs that can often act as abortifacients.

Fourthly, certain scientific techniques were questioned because of the risk and high mortality of embryos in such procedures. Good intentions should not ignore such  a reality.

I also find the claim that individuals were created with the genetic material of ‘three parents’ rather confusing besides being irrelevant to the argument.

We create nothing. We only use or abuse created matter. In these cases, healthy non-genetic cellular material of a donated ovum is used to replace defective non-genetic material of the ovum that is intended for fertilisation. There is nothing weird or unethical about donating RNA [non-genetic material]. There are only two parents involved, not three.

Also, to imply that those of us that object to dishonest medicine and politics would favour an Iranian-style theocracy is both offensive and unfair.

Many of the changes we are witnessing in Malta at present are imposed by a well-placed lobby without popular awareness and consent. This is the antithesis of a parliamentary democracy.

Finally, peddling abort-ifacients under the guise of contraceptives to ignore the law of the land is disgraceful and definitely undemoratic.