U.S. woman fearing for health after Malta refuses abortion

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

VALLETTA (Reuters) - An American couple on Wednesday appealed to the Maltese authorities to let them leave Malta to have an abortion and avoid any risks to the mother after she suffered symptoms of a miscarriage.

Malta is the only country in the European Union which does not allow abortion under any circumstances.

Andrea Prudente and her partner Jay Weeldreyer, from Seattle, were on holiday on the small Mediterranean island when Prudente, 16 weeks pregnant, started bleeding.

The couple requested for the pregnancy to be terminated due to the risks of maternal infection and possible death. But doctors will not terminate the pregnancy, Weeldreyer told the Times of Malta.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-woman-fearing-health-malta-150548425.html

What 6 justices on the SCOTUS want for this country.

[Bev54]

1. I can't see how they can hold her hostage as unfit to travel

She is not under arrest so get to the airport or on a train.

[Hortensis]

2. They just won't certify her as fit to travel. She can leave,

and apparently has travel insurance that is paying for her hospital care and would pay for emergency medical transport. It may be a certificate is required by transport companies and her medical condition makes normal travel inadvisable.

[Hortensis]

3. :) Well, she's in hospital, so chances are good she won't get an

uncontrollable infection before the fetal status changes to allow aborting.

"Opinion polls have shown a big majority of Maltese people to be against the introduction of abortion, and both of the island’s major political parties say they remain against its introduction."

"Malta is a parliamentary democracy with regular, competitive elections and periodic rotations of power. Civil liberties are generally respected."

98% of Maltese are Catholic, which is also the official religion. Catholic doctrine allows some specific exceptions to its antiabortion rule, but presumably either they aren't recognized in Malta or this situation doesn't qualify.

In future this story will hopefully come up for expecting couples googling Mediterranean vacations. It doesn't sound as if they were careless, just a detail unchecked.