VALETTA, January 10, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The vast majority of Malta’s 400,000 inhabitants—96 percent—are opposed to abortion, according to a recent public opinion survey, released Sunday. The survey also revealed that most Maltese—56 percent—also oppose divorce, which is illegal there. The survey was conducted by sociologist Mario Vassallo for Malta’s Sunday Times newspaper.
A majority of respondents, when asked whether separation was a remedy for difficult marriages, said that it was not. When it comes to marriage counselling, only 22 percent of respondents said that government-sponsored counselling was of any value, while over 40 percent said that Catholic Church-sponsored counselling was useful. Malta is over 90 percent Catholic.
Fully 99 percent of respondents felt that pregnancies occurring outside of marriage were the responsibility of both partners. In the case of rape, almost 18 percent favoured abortion, whereas in pregnancies arising from incest, and in unborn children with deformities only nine percent felt that abortion should be an option.
One notable finding was that the opinions on abortion were similar among all age groups, with an overall approval rating of only four percent, whereas among professionals and those in managerial positions, almost 14 percent were in favour of legalizing abortion.
The survey asked 300 respondents about their opinions on social matters regarding marriage, divorce, abortion, and other issues, to coincide with the day set aside every year to honour families—January 1.
With files from timesofmalta.com
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