Updated 3.32pm with MEP letter Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has joined 44 organisations calling for the government to redraft proposed changes to Malta's law concerning abortion. The organisations say doctors should only be allowed to terminate pregnancies when the mother’s life is at risk, rather than her health, as the new Bill proposes. Coleiro Preca, a former president who also served as a Labour Party minister, has endorsed those calls and argued that the amendments as presented to parliament go beyond their stated remit. "The government does not have the mandate to introduce abortion in Malta," the joint statement by the NGOs, Coleiro Preca and her husband Edgar argued. MPs are set to debate amendments to Malta's criminal code that will free doctors and pregnant women from the threat of criminal prosecution if a pregnancy is terminated for health-related reasons. Prime Minister Robert Abela and Health Minister Chris Fearne have argued that the amendments will simply codify an unofficial long-standing practice among doctors at Mater Dei Hospital into law. The government was spurred into action after an American tourist had her request to terminate a non-viable pregnancy...
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