Gift of Life, the pro-life group, has welcomed the stand taken by all Maltese MEPs who on Thursday voted for amendments to a European Parliament motion which would have banned the transfer of EU funds to countries or organisations which could have used them for coercive family planning programmes which include pressure on women to have an abortion, forced sterilization programmes as well as sex selective abortions.

"It is unfortunate that despite very strong support, these amendments still did not pass. The vote was very close however a qualified majority was not attained. These amendments were more about human rights than pro-life or pro-abortion ideologies. Consequently, there is now no mechanism in place which restricts the use of funds from the EU budget for 2010 by countries and organisations, for coercive family planning programnmes," GOL said.

"Had they passed, the amendments would have further protected a women's real choice to decide whether or not to have children without pressure or coercion," GOL said.