It looks like the final frontier, the last step into a pseudo-liberal world where a new vocabulary displaces reality and truth. One of the fads is ‘reproductive rights’, a term used to camouflage the much more appropriate term: abortion.

The issue raises its head again and again. Earlier this year, the Women’s Rights Foundation said it was not right that pro-life organisations were being invited to schools to teach adolescents on abortion and reproduction. They described abortion as a “complex moral issue and cannot be addressed from a black and white perspective”.

They are wrong. It is a black and white issue. It is a choice between life and death. There are no grey areas as was the case with the morning-after pill. Recently, the foundation said it had no stand on abortion but planned to be more vocal in fighting for women’s rights. Then, earlier this month, it was saying the country could not continue to bury its head in the sand and should debate abortion. It lists reproductive rights with civil rights. It is a human right that is involved ­­­– the right to life.

Equality Minister Helena Dalli was very cautious when asked on abortion. With her LGBTIQ agenda, she has waded too far out to turn back. She introduced new ‘civil rights’ by the bucketful to please the gay lobby and even redefined the institution of marriage. The debate on abortion is a ‘natural’ development to these new ‘rights’ as it is based on the same set of liberal principles that put the individual above all else. Hence, pro-abortionists speak of ‘choice’ when there should be no choice where life is involved.

The Women’s Rights Foundation calls it a dogma but belief in the basic and most fundamental right to life is not a dogma. There is no ‘choice’ either as there is no difference between one child and another. They both have an equal right to life. No one is more worthy to live than another. No one has a right to choose who is to live and who is to die, under the guise of reproductive health.

No doubt, some pregnancies can be immensely difficult and can cause enormous problems for the mother. That is where the State should come in to help, at every possible level.

The call to a debate on abortion, one most recent call coming from the new Alternattiva Demokratika chief Carmel Cacopardo, can only lead in one direction: the eventual acceptance and introduction of abortion.

Dr Dalli said none of the two main political parties had included abortion in their programme but she encourages civil debate. What does that imply? Given Labour’s track record, should the debate turn pro-abortion, there is a danger the government puts on its populist wings and jumps onto the bandwagon. Of course, there could be a political price to pay for that, which is why “debate” is being bandied around instead.

People have every right to favour abortion. But an opinion does not give them the right to murder the most innocent, as no right can ever come at the expense of someone else. No one has the right to take life, no matter what arguments can be put forward.

Sadly, it is all coming across as the final frontier.

This is a Times of Malta print editorial