There is a palpable sensation of excitement among Malta’s pro-life movement.
Rebecca Gomperts has finally set foot upon Malta, and will address a press conference at the Castille Hotel in Valletta tonight.
For the local pro-life movement, this is the propaganda equivalent of manna from heaven. Gomperts – a doctor, director of Women on Waves, and lifelong pro-choice activist – has been a figure of notoriety in Malta ever since she expressed an intention to come here aboard her so-called “abortion ship”: the vessel upon which WOW provides abortion services in countries where the procedure is illegal.
Since then, the mere mention of the name “Gomperts” has become a veritable red rag to the local pro-life bull. Letters have appeared in the papers, aggressively demanding that the Dutch activist be somehow prevented from entering the country. Some even suggested that Gomperts should be arrested upon arrival, though it remains unclear precisely on what grounds.
In any case: Rebecca Gomperts is now here, and the timing couldn’t have been better for the Gift of Life Foundation. Seizing on her visit to rekindle flagging enthusiasm for its Constitutional amendment campaign, GoL has organised a public protest to be held this evening outside the same venue. But again, it is not clear exactly what the demonstration is actually about.
“This protest is being called against the message of death that Dr Rebecca Gomperts of the abortion ship ‘Women on Waves’ brings to our island,” claims the organisation’s press announcement. But over the phone, GoL director Paul Vincenti casually admitted that Gomperts is doing “nothing illegal” by airing her views in public.
“The issue is not that what she is doing is illegal,” Vincenti said. “The issue is that she is offending a lot of people in this country, where the vast majority is against abortion.”
But it seems the local pro-life movement is not entirely united under Vincenti’s apparently moderate banner. Tony Mifsud, director of the Malta Movement for the Rights and Protection of the Unborn Child, chose the week of Gomperts’ visit to launch what must be the most radical pro-life argument yet raised in this country.
In an article in The Sunday Times, Mifsud suggested that the government clamp down on “illegal emigration” – as he terms the phenomenon of Maltese women seeking abortions in other countries – much in the same way as it tries to clamp down on the illegal movement of capital.
But what legal grounds are there to forcibly stop a pregnant woman from leaving the island, if abortion in her country of destination is not illegal? To Mifsud, this is simply a non-question. “Whether abroad or in Malta, she is going to kill her baby,” he repeats endlessly when asked over the phone. “Surely that is wrong…”
But in your article last Sunday you claimed it is not just wrong, but also illegal…
“Yes. The moment a person says she is going abroad with the intention of procuring an abortion, she is guilty of criminal intent,” Mifsud claims, only to promptly dismiss all questions regarding which laws are actually being broken in this scenario.
Mifsud also believes the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act are enough to legally prevent any woman going abroad to abort. “And a gynaecologist who advises a woman to abort overseas is inciting to commit a criminal act,” Mifsud darkly warns, again refusing to acknowledge all questions of whether Maltese law enjoys jurisdiction over countries other than Malta.
At the end of the day, Rebecca Gomperts’ visit is unlikely to add or detract anything from the ongoing abortion debate. But it has certainly exploded the myth that Malta, four years since its accession to the EU, is any more European in its attitudes to personal liberties.

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt