Aquantitative nationwide research on domestic violence, commissioned by the Malta Commission on Domestic Violence revealed that three per cent of pregnant women were beaten, punched or kicked in the abdomen.
Commission chairman Joanna Xuereb said it was known that 30 per cent of abuse cases started in pregnancy and one had to go deeper into the study to understand what exactly was happening.
Mater Dei Hospital’s gynaecology department regularly referred cases of domestic violence on pregnant women, she said.
The work of the commission is a very good development. It should be congratulated both for carrying out the study and for deciding to explore the degree and significance of domestic violence also on unborn children and recommend to the Minister of the Family what action to take.
Lou Bondì should also be congratulated. On his Bondì+ programme last Thursday he focused on the harm done to the unborn child when a pregnant women takes drugs.
Mark Brincat, a gynaecologist, dwelt on the physical, mental and emotional harm done to the unborn child when the mother takes drugs – as well as alcohol and tobacco - during or before pregnancy.
Paediatrician Paul Soler, spoke on what remedial action is taken by hospital staff to help affected newborns from the negative effects of such substances.
In the same programme, Gianella Caruana Curran, a leading criminal lawyer, commented on the legal position of the unborn child when hit by the damaging effects of such substances taken by the parents before or during the pregnancy. She opined that this was still “uncharted territory” in the legal field.
Not quite. The Malta Unborn Child Movement knows that there have already been court sentences that defended and saved the lives of unborn children from abortion when it emerged in court that the mother was leaving the island for such purpose. The mothers were legally prevented from going abroad.
Besides, article 2 ix of the Domestic Violence Act of 2006 makes it clear that unborn children have legal rights for protection from “any” type of domestic violence, as any battered woman.
The medical people mentioned above showed very clearly during the programme the physical, mental and emotional harm done to the unborn child by drugs, alcohol and tobacco. That, so far, legal protection has not been extended further to the unborn child in our courts of law is because the Attorney General, the police or one of the parents of the unborn child have, so far, not yet done so. Cases of this kind are waiting to be taken to court.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 (public law 108-212) is a United States law that recognises a “child in utero” as a legal victim if s/he is injured or killed during the commission of any of over 60 listed federal crimes of violence.
The law defines “child in utero” as “a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb”.
Mr Bondì said that the social workers of Aġenzija Appoġġ already legally protect affected newborns by means of care orders. What is not clear is whether care orders have been or are being issued to protect children at risk in their mother’s womb as had been suggested some time ago by Edwin Vassallo, chairman of the Social Affairs Committee of the House.
Notwithstanding, it is known that about 12 years ago Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ordered that a pregnant women remain under preventive custody in prison to protect her unborn child from the harmful effects of drugs, hopefully, by preventing drugs reaching the woman in prison.
On the other hand, the first case of an unborn child who was severely affected by hazardous substances on the place of work in Malta was taken to court in 2009. Unfortunately, the child died after birth.
According to his mother, the baby’s death was the result of her exposure to toxic substances at her place of work.
In this respect, the Malta Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1994 (Legal Notice 91 of 2000), Regulations regarding the Protection of Young Persons at Work Places can be a very effective legal instrument to protect pregnant mothers and their unborn children from health risks at the places of work. In article 4.1.b. it lays down that “... an employer shall ensure that any young person in his employ or to whom he has assigned work, is at all times protected against any hazards... which causes harm to an unborn child...”
This subject has also received EU attention lately. On September 7, European Health Commissioner John Dalli was the keynote speaker at a policy debate in the European Parliament in Brussels on the harmful effects, this time of alcohol, on the unborn child. He said the Commission is committed “... to stimulate, support and coordinate actions related to problematic alcohol consumption” and augured that collaborative action will avoid the suffering of children and the unborn child”.
The author is coordinator of the Malta Unborn Child Movement.