More than 100 doctors in Malta protested the country’s abortion ban on Monday after a hospital refused to terminate an American tourist’s pregnancy with life-threatening complications.
The so-called “judicial protest” that often led to the lawsuit was filed after tourist Andrea Prudente was sent abroad to seek emergency care in a case that made headlines around the world.
The Mediterranean island of Malta is the only European Union country to implement a complete ban on termination of pregnancy. Maltese centre-right Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, opposes abortion.
In the complaint signed by 135 doctors, filed against the Maltese Prime Minister, Minister of Health and the Parliamentary Secretary for Reform and Equality, it is stated that the abortion ban in the country criminalizes not only women who want abortions, but also the doctors who practice it.
The document calls for a clause to be removed from the penal code that punishes doctors who perform abortions with up to four years in prison and prohibits practicing medicine for life.
imprisonment
Women who have abortions in Malta can be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
The law forbids protesters from “providing emergency care at the right time because such delay endanger the life and health of pregnant women.”
Andrea Prudente was hospitalized while on holiday in Malta after suffering heavy bleeding at 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Doctors didn’t intervene as the baby still had a heartbeat, her partner, Jay Weeldreyer, told AFP last week, despite an ultrasound that showed the placenta partially detached from the uterus last week.
Concerned about the potentially fatal risk of widespread inflammation, Weeldreyer said the couple traveled to Spain, where the woman was treated.
Monday’s protest alleged that the criminalization of doctors prevented them from performing due diligence “especially when pregnancy complications arise”, forcing them to stay away from international standards.
The document therefore states that patients’ “lack of access to protection and medical care is unacceptable and a violation of women’s basic human rights.”
(with information from AFP)
source: Noticias
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