The Conversation: Why it is vital to decriminalise abortion: the case of Malta
The Abortion Support Network (a UK charity providing practical information and funding for abortion seekers) told us it had received calls from 121 people in Malta between March 2020 and February 2021, up from 90 people who contacted the organisation from Malta the previous year.
Malta’s abortion laws are amongst the strictest in the world and have been criticised by multiple human rights bodies. European parliament recently passed a non-binding resolution for countries to provide the right to legal and safe abortion, which this has been viewed as a challenge to the restrictive abortion laws of Malta, and other countries with restrictive SRH legislation.
With the pandemic exacerbating existing difficulties for accessing safe abortion care, the following article investigates why the decriminalisation of abortion and abortion care is so essential.