The Malta Body Politic is Pro Choice
You could choose not to read this but you know you want to
I kind of can't believe this happened, but it has - an MP put forward a Private Member's Bill to decriminalise abortion. This was done by one Marlene Farrugia, an MP who's both independent and a woman. The amendment Bill calls for the striking off of Article 241(1) of the Criminal Code, which outlaws the "procuring of a miscarriage" (this carries a prison conviction of up to three years for women) and Article 242, which holds anyone assisting the abortion with punishment for willful homicide or willful bodily harm. The bill also asks that articles 242 and 243(a) are substituted with a 10-year imprisonment for whoever carries out a forced, non-consensual abortion for non-medical reasons “by means of violence, force, deceit, bribery, threats or coercion.” Does this make it a first step towards the introduction of abortion in Malta? Well, possibly.
All said, I was more interested in the reactions brought about by the presentation of this Bill. First off though, all cards on the table - the Malta Body Politic is explicitly pro-choice, but that is all I have to say on a personal basis. This is due to the fact that while I am, again, pro-choice, I also don't have a uterus, and I am of the firm belief that this is an issue that should be discussed and decided on by uterus havers. Good? Good. Anyway, many have rightly pointed out that prior to this week Marlene has never been exactly pro-choice. Hell, until 2019, the official stance of the Partit Demokratiku, the party she leads and as such represents in parliament, was strictly anti abortion. In 2017 she even vocally accused Labour of trying to introduce abortion (it wasn't). Then again Marlene used to be anti-divorce until she... divorced. Much like the PN's Bernard Grech, who used to campaign against the introduction of divorce until he quietly rescinded on any such beliefs once he realised that, as a family lawyer, he stood to make a cent from the situation. Fuck, I'll point at myself and declare that I used to be a church-going liberal dipshit until I grew a brain, a dick, and a heart and now I'm a Marx-wielding socialist who only goes to church on funerals and baptisms. So people maybe change, and if something good can come out through political cynicism then so be it?
And how did the parties react? As expected the PN is wholly against it - after all, the party has always been as much about the religio as it is the patria. Labour meanwhile declared that the decriminalisation proposal "chokes" debate which... what? The statement continues that debate needs to continue to take place among society “in a mature and free manner, not be choked by a motion like this," and the issue should not “monopolised by political parties in parliament." So essentially the hogs making the electorate need need to continue debating it among themselves on Facebook and episodes of Xarabank. Excellent. As for notable individual reactions here's one by the CEO of Super One, Labour's propaganda machine, Jason Micallef. Now, for the uninitiated, Jason is one of those goblins who lack the kind of ability and charisma necessary to make it in politics, but was persistent enough in hanging around a party to get himself plenty of jobs for life. Depending how one wants to translate that, he might be telling Marlene to get fucked, or screwed, or simply stuffed. He also mentions marijuana legislation which... isn't that something your party is pushing, you absolute dumbass? Does that mean you're not going to push propaganda in its favour once the party goes full blast with it? Are you going to go grow a spine in that regard, or simply bow to what your masters will? Don't answer that, we all know what's the case...
There is even doubt as to whether Marlene's Bill will even make it in any parliamentary debate. After all, she is an independent, having been a Labour MP before breaking ranks and forming the Partit Demokratiku (PD) in 2016. And the fate of the Bill depends on the House Business Committee, which consists of deputy prime minister Chris Fearne, justice minister Edward Zammit Lewis, Labour Whip Glenn Bedingfield, Nationalist Whip Robert Cutajar and PN deputy leader David Agius. Now here's the kicker - this is shaping up to be an Election Year. Labour is currently too busy blowing smoke in the face of electors to touch a potato as spicy as abortion while the PN... well the PN is too busy trying to present a united front in the face of all the internal squabbling, and abortion is both easy and emotional enough to bring all inter-party factions to join forces.
All of this means there is a very real possibility that this parliamentary debate on the decriminalisation of abortion might sooner, not later, just die in the water, killing all hopes for serious consideration of pro-choice legislation for at least another decade. Both parties have their own agendas, and neither has ever been in any way sympathetic towards the plight of women. As one Desiree' Attard points out up there on Facebook one should indeed "be wary of conservatives bearing gifts." Echoing such sentiments is Prof. Carmen Sammut, also on Facebook, who describes Farrugia's Bill as doing no favours to the pro-choice movement in the long run. “The Bill will probably be shelved for decades because we’ll be saying ‘the Maltese are not ready for this’," Sammut adds. "And indeed there are aspects of discrimination that deserve to be understood and discussed without any delay. Wrong tactics, wrong timing.” As such, as Matthew Vella reminds on Malta Today, there's one way for such a Bill to succeed - if presented by an MP to a government that has a parliamentary majority of exactly one seat. That is what Marlene Farrugia's own ex-husband Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando did, and the rest is what they now history.
Well, that sure made for cheerful reading, so let’s change tack with What Is Happening In Malta Lightning Round courtesy of going through the Times homepage... oh the Planning Authority gave its thumbs up to "some" illegal developments by magnate-slash-former beer peddler Charles "Ċaqnu" Polidano (no joke, Polidano once tried his hand at beer, with a brew named after himself. It was piss). Daphne Caruana Galizia murder accomplice Yorgen Fenech insists the public inquiry in the murder he was involved in should not mention him by name because of his "rights" as an accomplice in murder via car bomb. The Ta' Qali indoor pool is going to close permanently because the government does not deem sports worthy of its largesse. Asylum seekers and expats are not getting the anti-Covid jab. And last, but definitely not least, Destiny proved herself a coward and decided to change her outfit after all, but to no avail as her song is no longer the bookies’ favourite. Boo!
CRISIS ALERT! Boris Johnson warns that Malta will not make it in the UK’s tourism green list in the near future! Now anyone with a sensible brain would think that is a good thing, since who wants lager louts and litigious British pensioners roaming the island? But then again the Brits make 25% of Malta’s tourism, so lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth has ensued. To think this is actually the former colonial overlords doing us a favour, what with the Indian variant of COVID-19. And maybe it’s a sign Malta should start thinking hard as to how to diversify its economy? Just no more being a tax haven, please
And that, as they say, is all.
-M
Will the next number be actually fun? Who knows, by the time you are reading this these stories are already out of date!