Two activists who oppose the morning-after pill have filed a judicial protest accusing the Medicines Authority of having allowed pharmaceuticals that can cause a chemical abortion onto the market. 

Miriam Sciberras and Klaus Vella Bardon of Life Network Malta are arguing that the authority's decision to issue licenses for emergency contraceptives is in breach of Malta's criminal code, which outlaws abortion, and the Embryo Protection Act. 

In their judicial protest, the two are insisting that claims that Malta is bound by EU medical licensing rules - as suggested by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat - are misleading, arguing that Malta's EU Accession Treaty expressly excludes contraceptives and abortifacients from EU marketing authorisation rules. 

The two activists also accuse the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality of having based its decision to back the introduction of emergency contraception on arguments made by the Women's Rights Foundation "while ignoring the vulnerability of embryos, which are voiceless."

The debate concerning the introduction of emergency contraception dominated news headlines during the second half of 2016, with a parliamentary committee leaving the final word to the Medicines Authority while suggesting that a doctor's prescription should be required. 

The authority subsequently decided to make emergency contraception available over the counter last October, with authority chief Anthony Serracino Inglott saying that making the pill contingent on a doctor's prescription would compromise its efficacy. 

The judicial protest ended by warning the Authority that it would be held legally responsible for its actions. 

Lawyers Tonio Azzopardi, Louise Ann Pulis and Ramon Bonett Sladden signed the protest.