Malta: Woman accused of having abortion at home charged by court

The Catholic-majority country of Malta, enforcing its strict ban on abortions, on Thursday charged a woman for having terminated a pregnancy. The woman, reportedly, had a medical abortion at home which goes against the country's complete ban on the practice.

Local media reports stated that she was granted a conditional discharge for three years after attending the court proceeding. No additional information was provided. However, women's rights activists have dubbed it a black day in the history of the country.

“What should have never happened [has] happened today: a Maltese woman was brought to court facing charges of having a medical abortion at home," the Women’s Rights Foundation of Malta said in a statement.

Although the woman was treated with respect during the hearing, the foundation said the fact that she was charged "should have never, ever happened in the first place”.

Notably, the Mediterranean nation, located off the coast of Sicily, is the only country in the 27-nation European Union bloc that does not allow women to receive an abortion, including in cases of rape or incest.

The parliament is currently mulling legislation that may allow termination if the mother's life or health was at serious risk. However, no significant progress has been made since the proposal was first mooted in November last year.

Currently,Malta's criminal code states any providers who perform an abortion to save the mother's life -- or women who receive an abortion -- could face up to four years in prison.

Since 2000, three women in the country have been convicted of conducting abortions, with the most recent being in 2006. However, none of them have served time in jail.

American woman left bleeding

Such are the stringent rules that last year, an American woman who was admitted to a hospital with severebleeding in her 16th week of pregnancy while holidaying in Malta was denied an abortion. Despite there being "zero chance" that the baby would survive, the woman was left in pain as doctors refused to treat her.

After a seven-day ordeal in the hospital, she was airlifted to a hospital in Mallorca, Spain by her travel insurance company where the abortion took place.

in September 2022, the womansued the Maltese government,alleging the country’s total ban on the procedure breached her human rights.

(With inputs from agencies)

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