The tragic death of a 20-year-old in a construction site and government’s plan to introduce abortion – two issues which dominated the country’s agenda for several days – have exposed a rather ironic state of affairs. 

On one hand the government and the abortion lobby are adamant to legislate for a very unlikely scenario (which so far never happened in Malta) in case a mother’s health is in danger due to her pregnancy. This sudden urge was triggered in the wake of an American citizen who during her stay in Malta claimed she was being denied an abortion despite her life being in danger. In reality, however, this was not the case and this was corroborated by court documents in which the State advocate insisted that there was no such risk while she was being treated at Mater Dei Hospital. Nonetheless, the reason behind government’s intentions and urgency are suspicious given that no such scenario has ever happened in decades.

These suspicions are fuelled further when comparing government’s weak response to a much more serious issue – the worryingly high number of fatalities in the construction industry which included not only employees but also third parties. The question beckons – why is it that the urgency and haste with which the abortion legislation is being moved, has not been adopted to safeguard the construction industry?

Such circumstances depict a situation whereby not enough is being done to safeguard people’s lives in the construction industry while legislating to decriminalise the killing of innocent lives – i.e. abortion.

It is quite ironic that member of the so-called pro-choice lobby would have never been able to mount such campaign were it not for their pro-life parents!

The ongoing debate on abortion in Malta will have much wider ramifications as once we legislate to introduce abortion, there would be no obstacle to introduce euthanasia. Such sequence of events has already been followed in other countries and should Malta legalise abortion, it would be no exception on assisted killing. To date we strive to protect life from conception till natural death. This could all change once we start riding roughshod on the value of life.

Coming back to the original argument it is highly significant that very little was done in the aftermath of all the tragic deaths in the construction industry while the government is now going to town to legislate for a scenario which to date has never occurred. Our objective must be to ensure that workers and their families have the peace of mind of knowing they will return home safe and sound. Unfortunately, conveying condolences to employees’ relatives and next of kin has become the norm. Indeed, the manner in which events are unfolding are of deep concern and symptomatic of warped priorities when dealing with the value of life.