By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
STRASBOURG, February 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Maltese members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sent a strong message to the EU that Malta will not accept the introduction of abortion when they voted against a measure that sought to “improve women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services … notably through easy access to contraception and abortion.”
The vote was taken on a resolution drafted by Belgian Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella on equality between men and women in the EU.
Although initially the resolution looked like a pro-equality motion dealing with equal pay for men and women, paternity leave, and human trafficking and violence against women, it included a paragraph promoting abortion, which was unacceptable to the Maltese MEPs.
Malta is the only member state of the EU where abortion is completely illegal. The government of the country has consistently refused to cave in to pressure to legalize it. Prior to joining the EU a pre-accession agreement was negotiated that gave Malta total sovereignty over the issue of abortion legislation in the country.
The resolution was approved by 381 votes to 253, with 31 abstentions, though the measure has no legal effect and is seen simply as a guage of opinion from member states.
The Times of Malta reports that the majority of the votes against the resolution came from the European People's Party MEPs.
The four Maltese MEPs who voted against the resolution were Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, and Labour MEPs Louis Grech, John Attard Montalto and Edward Scicluna.
The full text of the Tarabella resolution is available from the European Parliament website here.
See related LSN articles:
Maltese Prime Minister and Bishop's Conference Reject United Nations Abortion Push
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/dec/04120101.html
Abortion is “Murder” and a “Negation of the Right to Life”: Maltese Bishops to Council of Europe
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08041502.html