In predominantly male international political scenarios, women have had to struggle for many decades to come to the point where they are today. Many iconic and influential women in politics in the past, such as Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel and many others have had quite a remarkable impact on their respective cultures.

In our own country we have had women like Agatha Barbara and Mabel Strickland, who have instilled in our culture a whole revolution of progressive ideas.

Women have been encouraged to throw their aprons out, burn their bras, work on their careers, build on their education, stand up to all abuse, move away from the traditional maternal roles and engage themselves in the social and economic development of our country.

Men were ‘re-educated’ to acknowledge the social changes that were coming and they have had to respect women at work and accept that women were just as good as them to run businesses. Men had to realise that women were on a mission to challenge every stereotyped image they might have had of the so-called, weaker sex.

Men have had to take on responsibilities traditionally believed to belong to the women’s domain. They stayed at home, raised children, walked them to school, involved themselves in the daily chores and so much more.

As men, we are now not entitled to voice our concerns and show our paternal love to our unborn children

In many ways, this gave us men, a sense of relief. We could finally show emotions without being considered wimps. We now, proudly join in prenatal classes involving ourselves in all stages of pregnancy. As men, we are now more than ever before involved in the development of our unborn babies, right from the moment of conception. So much so that nowadays we refer to a pregnant couple. We have been given paternal leave just as women.

As the domestic violence Bill is being discussed in Parliament, a reality check is revealing that there is a dark reality behind this picture. Many women and girls are still suffering excruciating psychological and physical pain at the hands of men who still have not grasped the basic elements of humanity and respect.

The unfortunate thing is that while this Bill is being passed, some women’s rights groups brought abortion to the discussion table and are now telling us men to step aside. They are now telling us to mind our own business and that as men, we have no word on a “woman’s body” and their reproductive rights.

We are now being called misogynists and that yet again, we are trying to impose our agenda on women.

As men, we are now not entitled to voice our concerns and show our paternal love to our unborn children. We are no longer being requested to shoulder our responsibilities and act responsibly when indulging in casual sexual encounters. We are not being asked to consider carefully the repercussions of unplanned pregnancies.

Women on their part are also being psychologically indoctrinated to believe that they should be free from obligations and that abortion can be used as a form of birth control. They are being told to rid themselves of responsibilities and that any difficulty with their pregnancy should be resolved by killing the second unborn human life that is hosted within their body.

They are being systemically told that an unborn is no human being and that it is equivalent to having a tumour.

In the meanwhile, Equality Minister Helena Dalli, in her article ‘Tilting at Windmills’, puts forth the idea that the reforms in the law are urgently needed and that bringing in the “unborn” is a “non-issue” which has been only evoked by “men” who are attempting once again to “impose” their beliefs on women and who are generally attempting to divert the proposed law towards another objective.

It is certainly no coincidence that Dalli’s article came out only a few days after a video revealed her taking some time off at an international UN convention. In the video, she was evidently flaunting about the fact that her political party “packaged” equality in the pre-electoral campaign and handed people a different law.

When the same strategy is used a second time, the credibility of the person opting for it, slides down to a very low level and that person cannot be trusted.

In an article some while ago, Miriam Sciberras, chair of LifeNetwork Foundation, had claimed that the domestic violence law would be a Trojan Horse hiding abortion in its belly.

Indeed she was right and while the minister insists that the terms “ascendant” and “descendant” are sufficient to cover the unborn in the domestic violence Bill, we know for a fact that they are not.

I strongly suspect that these terms will be used by the pro-abortion lobby group to recreate a Roe v. Wade case in Malta in the near future. The lawyers will bring in the simple argument that international law does not yet recognise an unborn human being as a “person” and therefore abortion will not constitute an act of violence on the unborn.

 The terms descendant legally refers to a “person” and does not legally refer to an unborn.

The term “unborn” however, is unequivocal and cannot be misinterpreted in any other way. The manner in which the minister and the government are refusing to reintroduce this term is clearly revealing that they are actually flirting with the idea of abortion.

While in every law that is passed in Parliament the State attempts to close all doors to interpretation, in this particular Bill the doors are being intentionally left ajar for future use. The Prime Minister must be at loggerheads with the minister as he evidently has no control of the situation and his official position on abortion is not being reflected in the law being passed. This is the new package deal we have in front of us, and away from any partisan political opinion, the fact remains that the minister is taking us and the Prime Minister for a second ride.

Steve Pace is a company director and ICT consultant.