The Women’s Lobby proposed decriminalisation of abortion

Abstract

On 4 February 2026, the daily The Malta Independent published a news feature titled ‘Malta’s Women’s Lobby calls for forum to discuss decriminalising abortion’. Essentially, what the Women’s Lobby is after is to remove criminal penalties for the crime of abortion: “criminal penalties for women are not an appropriate way forward to addressing complex personal and healthcare realities after an abortion has occurred”. They quoted – quite contrary to their decriminalisation claim – that the Leader of the Opposition “suggested that whether a woman should face imprisonment ought to be assessed on a case-by-case basis” and the Prime Minister “suggesting that harm may be reduced through measures such as conditional discharges or suspended sentences”.