Labour MP proposes law to stop women having abortions abroad
James Debono Gozitan Labour MP Justyne Caruana is proposing a legal procedure through which a father can ask the courts to appoint a curator to protect the unborn child if the mother is suspected to be planning an abortion abroad: protection which could include prohibition of travel.
Caruana is taking paternity of a proposal made by Social Affairs Committee chairman Edwin Vassallo, ostensibly for the introduction of care orders to protect the unborn child from women who continue taking drugs during pregnancy.
Caruana insists that the committee of which she is also a member is currently discussing her own, more wide-ranging and radical proposal.
“If the courts accept the judicial application presented by the father, they would appoint a curator to protect the unborn child who will be vested with the power to issue a warrant of injunction to stop an abortion from happening,” Caruana told MaltaToday.
Asked who would be able to present a judicial application to stop an abortion from happening, Caruana replied that in such cases one has to limit this legal procedure to the father of the child.
Caruana insists that the procedure was already applied through ordinary legal procedure.
“The present deputy leader of the Labour Party Toni Abela in his role as a lawyer had already applied a similar procedure some time ago to stop a woman from travelling abroad to perform an abortion.”
According to Caruana the mechanism she is proposing will “strengthen this procedure.”
In a further twist to the quandary, when contacted the two other Labour members on the committee, Michael Farrugia and Anthony Zammit, were unaware of any discussions in the select committee regarding the issue of issue of care orders to protect the unborn child.
On his part committee chairman Edwin Vassallo has only spoken on care orders being issued in cases where women continue to abuse of drugs during pregnancy.
He claims that he was only representing views expressed by Sedqa in during a select committee hearing in March 2009.
According to statement issued by the committee last year the Sedqa experts recommended legislation to give legal recognition to the foetus in a way that the state could intervene through a care order on the mother if she put its life in danger.
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