While much of Europe continues advancing toward a progressive normalization of abortion as a supposed “human right,” in recent weeks a new sign of hope has appeared. Those who defend the dignity of every human life from conception on this continent are buoyed by the news from Malta, where the Constitutional Court has stood strong for Life.
Catholic Malta is the only country of the European Union where abortion remains illegal in practically all circumstances. Thus, it has long been targeted by the abortion movement.
The latest attack, strangely enough, came from a U.S. citizen named Andrea Prudente. While she was on vacation in Malta in 2022, she suffered a hemorrhage when she was 14 weeks pregnant. She wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but the doctors at Mater Dei refused. They had detected a fetal heartbeat—her baby was still alive—and her life was not in danger.
Prudente kept insisting on an abortion, and was finally transferred by medical aircraft to Spain where she ended her child’s life. Then, backed by the international abortion movement, she sued the Maltese government for violating her rights and her doctors for refusing to perform the abortion. Their goal was to end the legal protection of the unborn in Malta.
Malta’s Constitutional Court has just rejected her lawsuit. The ruling against Prudente—and in favor of the doctors—is not merely the outcome of a single lawsuit. It is an important strategic victory for the European pro-life movement.
The Constitutional Court concluded that there was never an imminent risk to Prudente’s life and that the doctors had provided appropriate medical care. It likewise rejected her claim that Malta’s pro-life law had violated her fundamental rights. Most importantly, the Court affirmed that the European Convention on Human Rights does not contain a right to abortion.
The language used by Judge Miriam Hayman was forceful and clear. She indicated that Prudente, while going through a profoundly traumatic situation, had allowed herself to be used by abortion activists to advance a political agenda.
The ruling completely dismantles the international campaign that the abortion movement constructed around Prudente’s case. They had loudly and repeatedly claimed that Malta’s pro-life laws were endangering the lives of women, pointing to the Prudente case as evidence.
Some of the world’s most influential media outlets, including the BBC and The New York Times, piled on, promoting the false narrative that Malta forced women to wait “until they were on the verge of death” before receiving abortion “care.” The goal was to force the Maltese authorities to abandon their defense of unborn life.
The judges, however, after evaluating all the medical evidence, concluded that Prudente was never in imminent danger of death. Moreover, they asserted that she had received appropriate medical care throughout her hospitalization.
For years, Malta has been accused of putting women’s lives at risk by its pro-life legislation. Yet the public health data shows the opposite: Malta has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates on the planet.
Malta proves that you can protect both the unborn child and the mother at one and the same time. One need not be sacrificed to save the other.
Within the European Union, Malta remains a bulwark against attempts to turn abortion into a “fundamental right.” This is because any revision of the Charter of Fundamental Rights requires the unanimous agreement of the member states. As long as Malta stands strong for Life, abortion cannot be imposed as a binding human right throughout Europe.
This is why Malta was the subject of a multiyear pressure campaign by both media, diplomatic, and judicial actors. The European elite were trying to break Malta’s will to resist the continent-wide legalization of abortion. For the time being, their strategy has suffered yet another failure.
Poland, too, continues to resist the culture of death. President Karol Nawrocki has just vetoed the civil partnership bill promoted by Donald Tusk’s government, arguing that the Polish Constitution expressly protects marriage as the union between one man and one woman.
Since Tusk’s governing coalition lacks the votes necessary to override the presidential veto, the initiative has, at least for the moment, been blocked.
Both Malta and Poland demonstrate that, within Europe, there are still those who are willing to resist the ideological colonization coming both from Brussels—the headquarters of the EU—and also from international organizations like the UN and IPPF.
The hostility of European elites toward Life and Family seems irrational when viewed against the terrible demographic winter that now has the continent in its grip. Birth rates are far below replacement level and the population is aging rapidly.
Migrants are pouring in from Africa and Asia—allowed in by the same elites who promote abortion—on the grounds that these new immigrants are necessary to sustain Europe’s labor market and welfare systems. Maybe if Europe’s political elites didn’t zealously promote the deliberate elimination of human lives before birth they wouldn’t need to import replacements?
Malta demonstrates that the defense of Life can still prevail against extraordinarily powerful international media campaigns, if the courts judge according to the facts and not according to headlines. Malta also confirms that the European pro-life movement has at least one stronghold capable of stopping, at least for now, an agenda that disguises the tragedy of abortion as a universal right.
Even on the deeply secularized continent of Europe, the battle for Life is far from over.
