VALLETTA, June 22 (Reuters) – An American couple on Wednesday appealed to the Maltese authorities to allow them to depart Malta to have an abortion and keep away from any dangers to the mom after she suffered signs of a miscarriage.
Malta is the one nation within the European Union which doesn’t enable abortion underneath any circumstances.
Andrea Prudente and her accomplice Jay Weeldreyer, from Seattle, have been on vacation on the small Mediterranean island when Prudente, 16 weeks pregnant, began bleeding.
The couple requested for the being pregnant to be terminated as a result of dangers of maternal an infection and potential loss of life. However medical doctors is not going to terminate the being pregnant, Weeldreyer informed the Occasions of Malta.
The couple have additionally requested to fly to Britain the place the being pregnant may be ended, however medical doctors have refused to certify Andrea as match for journey.
“We got here to Malta on a babymoon. We actually didn’t come for an abortion, however right here we’re speaking about saving a lady’s life,” Weeldreyer, 45, informed the paper.
They’ve been ready for nearly every week since they have been informed that their child would die. However medical workers on the state-run Mater Dei Hospital are refusing their request for termination as a result of there may be nonetheless a foetal heartbeat and the mom’s life is just not deemed to be at imminent danger.
Maltese well being authorities didn’t reply to a request for a remark.
“We’re caught … we selected Malta as a result of it was secure and had good well being care, and now we’re held hostage to this case,” Weeldreyer stated.
Maltese NGO Docs For Selection stated it backed the couple’s attraction, warning of the hazards of a repeat of the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, who died in 2012 in Eire of septicaemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her being pregnant.
“An infection can undergo the ruptured membranes, into the uterus, then into the blood resulting in loss of life,” the NGO stated.
Opinion polls have proven a giant majority of Maltese individuals to be in opposition to the introduction of abortion, and each of the island’s main political events say they continue to be in opposition to its introduction.
Reporting by Chris Scicluna;
Enhancing by Alison Williams
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