Four hundred Maltese women per year travel abroad to abort their babies. Malta has the strictest abortion law in the EU, with no exceptions. Women should have access to abortion, should they need it, no matter what the situation. Countries have started to open up the laws of abortion, which is why the push for this freedom has surfaced recently. In this article, we will cover why Malta has these laws, why women should have these rights, and why women should have the choice.

“The right to health for all people means that everyone should have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them...”. That is what Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from the World Health Organization states in one of his articles. Surely if this right applies to everyone abortions are apart of essential health care?

So why is abortion banned in Malta? 85% of all Maltese are Roman Catholic. While not all Catholics are against abortion, the general community in Malta believes that abortions are sinful and illegal. According to Index Mundi, around 71% of Malta's population is above 30 years old, and around half of that is over the age of 65. Another reason why abortion is so taboo could be the influence from the elderly, and again, it might not be all of the elderly, but a large population of Malta believes that there shouldnt be abortion.

It is also ironic that the countries with the strictest abortion laws are focusing more on preventing abortion rather than preventing unwanted pregnancies. If the head of these countries wanted to stop abortions from happening, perhaps they should look at the root of the problem, rather than focusing on the effect of the real issue.

Despite Malta's laws, women should have access to abortion on request. Not only can an abortion be a risk to the woman's health and even life, but the tolls of having a baby when you are not ready are extreme. Not being able to have an abortion can result in immature pregnancy, raising a child in an unstable home, and deprivation of good mental health. If a woman is not ready for a baby, that is their choice.

Woman all around the globe should have the choice of abortion. Therefore if a woman does not want an abortion, that is her choice; however, if she does, she has access to one. This issue is essential because there are thousands of women suffering from the government's laws, not only in Malta but in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Malta recently has proposed a lift on the ban, but that is still in progress. Overall, all governments should lift any abortion ban because women deserve the freedom of choice for their bodies.