The life of the pregnant woman and abortion in Malta : a legal analysis in view of the addition of article 243B to the Criminal Code

Abstract

Malta’s Criminal law on abortion was a relatively unchanged area, that is, up until a change was endorsed by means of Article 243B, which added further safeguards in cases where a pregnant woman’s life is ‘at immediate risk or her health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death’. In this dissertation an in-depth analysis of Article 243B was conducted, where the law before such an amendment and after such an amendment was examined side by side, with the aim of deducing how this law will operate in the Maltese legal framework. Considering how recent Article 243B is, and in light of the lack of jurisprudence on it, reliance on case law and legislation from the Republic of Ireland during the period of time when they only allowed pregnancies in life threatening cases was useful. The rationale behind resorting to a different jurisdiction that used to allow pregnancies in life threatening cases was to better understand and interpret the Maltese legal system after Article 243B legislated for the same scenario. The ultimate goal of this research was to see the aim, thoughts, and reason for the introduction of this law, which is why Maltese Criminal law on abortion was analysed chronologically to fully comprehend this new law. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of the law in its Bill form and the discord originating therefrom was taken into consideration, with the aim of assembling the grounds from which the political strife originated from.