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Catholic World News News Feature

Malta Condemns European Abortion Resolution July 24, 2002

VALETTA, Malta, Jul 24, 02 (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) - The island state of Malta on Monday voiced its protest to the secretary general of the European Parliament against an aggressive EU resolution laying down pan-European ambitions for "sexual and reproductive health and rights."

The European Parliament recently declared its wish to see abortion become "legal, safe, and accessible to all," and that governments should strive for a lower incidence of abortion, as in the Netherlands, which many observers see as a slap at mainly Catholic Ireland and Poland. Many EU members want abortion legalization to be a membership requirement -- and Malta is not yet a member.

Malta's Permanent Delegate to the EU, Ambassador Victor Camilleri, reiterated his government's position on abortion. "Not only is abortion illegal in Malta," he said, "but successive governments... have been strongly committed to retaining the legal prohibition and have held this position also in the context of European and international fora, not least at the level of the United Nations." He said abortion is a domestic issue on which the EU "has no competence to act, decide, or legislate" -- and that he thought Malta would maintain this position even after accession to the EU.