More than a hundred doctors demand before the Maltese Justice a review of the abortion ban

MADRID, 27 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

More than a hundred Maltese doctors have filed a complaint in the Maltese courts to request a review of the current abortion ban, following the controversy generated by the case of an American tourist unable to end her pregnancy despite that can no longer come to an end.

The patient, Andrea Prudente, was 16 weeks pregnant when doctors confirmed that the fetus was not viable. However, the Maltese authorities prevented her from having an abortion, given that on the island the interruption of pregnancy is illegal unless the life of the surrogate mother is in danger.

Prudente was finally evacuated to Mallorca, but a group of 135 doctors have wanted to use the case to claim a judicial review, since they consider that between two and three women each year are left in this kind of legal limbo.

The gynecologist Isabel Stabile, promoter of the petition, has warned that most women lack private insurance that allows them to seek help abroad and risk their lives "unnecessarily" due to pregnancies that will not prosper in any case.

"The doctors had their hands tied by not being able to offer Prudente the care she needed," lamented Stabile, who recalled that both the patient and the doctors risk being sentenced if they ignore Maltese regulations and perform an abortion, according to the 'Times of Malta' newspaper.

The signing doctors believe that cases like that of the American tourist not only imply damage to the physical health of women, but also have effects on their mental health and the right to life and health.