The government would be able to issue care orders for children yet to be born under a proposal by Parliament's Social Affairs Committee.
Speaking at a pro-life manifestation at the St John's Co-Cathedral Oratory yesterday, Social Affairs Committee chairman Edwin Vassallo said the government was intent on safeguarding human life starting from conception.
"We must introduce legislation to protect unborn children, not just from abortion but even from behaviour such as drug abuse," Mr Vassallo said.
In cases where this sort of behaviour was detected, the proposed law would enable authorities to take better care of unborn children by providing treatment to mothers.
In extreme cases they would even issue a care order over the unborn child as happened nowadays with infants, children and teenagers at risk, he said.
This would not require the right to life of the unborn child to be entrenched into the Constitution, as the current one would allow for such a law to be enacted.
Maria Vella, a doctor working with pregnant women with a drug addiction, hailed this as a step in the right direction.
Contacted by The Times, Dr Vella said: "Currently, there are no laws which make treatment compulsory for pregnant women who are dependent on drugs.
"In this way, we will be taking care of mothers and their children, while giving a voice to the unborn child."
It has been shown that babies born to mothers addicted to drugs such as cocaine, heroin and amphetamines are themselves born addicted to the drug, having received it through the placenta.
Speaking with Caravaggio's Beheading of St John in the backdrop, Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg reiterated his stance that Malta should join Ireland in entrenching the unborn child's right to life in its Constitution, and that this should be something members of both parties should work for.
Dr Borg said that while the great majority of the Maltese opposed abortion, more needed to be done to help pregnant women and their children, including strengthening the family unit which he understood primarily as monogam-ous, heterosexual marriages, without excluding other forms of family.
"When protecting life at conception, it's not just abortion that is an issue but you should be able to ensure care for the unborn child," Dr Borg said. Speaking on behalf of the Labour Party, Tony Agius Decelis said the party was fully in favour of protecting the miracle of life and it was totally against abortion under any circumstance.