Those who in the abortion debate argue that women should have the right to decide what to do with their body have an argument "which should not be discarded", former Prime Minister and Labour MEP Alfred Sant has said.

Writing in his regular newsletter, Dr Sant noted how the subject has picked up in the media, possibly as a result of the upcoming referendum in Ireland.

The media, he notes, regularly features strongly written comments proclaiming that abortion is against nature and the law of god and man.

Less often and more carefully, statements are made that women should have the right to decide what they should do with their body.

"While the latter are making arguments which should not be discarded, the former know that they have a somewhat large majority behind them," Dr Sant said.

He said he found himself in the curious situation of spending half the week in Malta, a country dominated by the anti-abortion line, while he spent the rest of the week in a society which strongly and in a most natural way, considered abortion as a woman's fundamental right.