Regression of women’s rights ‘worrying trend’
A day after the U.S. supreme court ruled an important case that gives women the right to terminate a pregnancy, Roberta Metsola said on social media that the European Parliament will raise women.
The reversal of the 50-year-old Roe v Wade case on Friday will allow U.S. states to ban abortion.
On the same day, an American woman whose request to terminate her unviable pregnancy was rejected by the Maltese health authorities despite fears for her health, arrived in Spain safely to undergo the procedure.
Late on Saturday, Metsola tweeted: “The regression of women’s rights in the United States, and elsewhere around the world, is a worrying trend. The European Parliament will continue to stand up for women, equality and freedom. “
Before being elected President of the European Parliament, she was inundated with questions from the international press about her position against abortion. In her replies, she insisted that as president of the EU parliament, she would take the position of parliament.
And once she took office in Brussels, she vowed to sign a liberal pact guaranteeing women’s access to abortion and contraception in the EU.
Some of her followers on Twitter on Saturday and Sunday mornings reminded her of her own position on abortion, while others stated the most recent case in Malta that made international news.
Among others, the lawyer and former PN candidate Emma Portelli Bonnici, who is openly in favor of the choice, replied “and yet, Malta has the most restrictive abortion laws in the EU and in most of the world, criminalizes it in every case and has no derogation. to save the life of the pregnant person, or for cases of rape or incest.
“Don’t forget about us,” she tweeted.
Times of Malta contacted Metsola for comments but the EP president is currently traveling.
In Malta, the end of an unviable pregnancy where a heartbeat is still found is delayed until a woman’s life is at risk because abortion on the island is illegal in all circumstances.
Delays can sometimes be too late, as in the case of the late Izabela from Pszczyna, Poland and Savita Halappanavar of Ireland. The deaths of both women brought with them changes in the legislation of their respective country.
Shortly after the announcement of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Friday, warned the World Health Organization on Facebook that removing access to abortion care puts more women and girls at risk of illegal abortion.
More than 25 million unsafe abortions occur each year and up to 37,000 women die, the WHO said in a post on social media, adding that restricting access to abortion has not reduced the number of abortions.
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