‘The law is not right’: the lawyer suing the Maltese government over abortion
Lara Dimitrijevic is representing a US tourist who was denied life-saving care when she suffered a miscarriage.
Only have a minute to read this newsletter? Here it is in brief:
🇲🇹 Malta’s abortion ban left US tourist Andrea Prudente in danger of losing her life when she miscarried there in June.
⚖️ Now she’s suing the government, claiming the ban breached her human rights.
✊Prundente’s lawyer, Lara Dimitrijevic, talked to Impact about their case, and how it fits into the long campaign for abortion rights on the island.
Read on for more. And if you want to be up-to-date on feminism worldwide, follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
The tiny island of Malta is home to the only total ban on abortion in the European Union. This little-known fact was one that American tourist Andrea Prudente discovered too late when she began to miscarry while holidaying on the island in June this year. Though the pregnancy was no longer viable, and despite her high risk of haemorrhage, she was denied the urgent medical care required to complete the miscarriage, because doctors could still detect a foetal heartbeat.
After days of waiting for either the heartbeat to stop, or for Prudente to develop life-threatening sepsis – a process her partner Jay
described as “psychological torture” – she was medically evacuated to the Spanish island of Mallorca for the basic but essential treatment she needed.
The case made global headlines and shone a spotlight on one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world. Now, Prudente is suing the Maltese government on the basis that its total abortion ban breached her human rights. Asked for a comment on the legal action, she told the Impact newsletter: “Sometimes abortion is not a choice, it’s just medical care.”
Prudente is being represented by Maltese lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic, who
has long campaigned to overturn her country’s abortion ban. Dimitrijevic spoke to Impact about her case, Malta’s abortion taboo, and how the tide might finally be turning. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Megan Clement Tell me why you are suing the Maltese government on behalf of your client.
Lara Dimitrijevic The trauma that Andrea had to go through was unjustified. The decisions taken were unjustified, and it was for these reasons that the case was tabled two weeks ago. It’s a human rights case, and the rights invoked are breach of privacy and family life – her own life because she was not given a decision; article three, which is inhuman and degrading treatment, for the pain and trauma that she was unnecessarily put through; article two, which is her right to life, because it was a serious medical situation that could have potentially lead to her loss of life; and article fourteen, which is discrimination, because having a total ban on abortion
is based on discrimination simply because of her sex.
Megan Clement Have there been cases like this before in Malta?
Lara Dimitrijevic This is the first of its kind. There have been instances where I was about to take a case, but my clients retracted because there is a lot of fear. There was a fear of being publicly exposed because Malta’s a small country, and some had jobs with the state. This case is something that’s been a long time coming. For me, doing this case was nothing out of the ordinary because it’s been something that I’ve been planning for a long time.
Megan Clement In that sense, does it help that Andrea was a visitor to the island?
Lara Dimitrijevic I think in a way, yes, that has helped. This case generated global attention, it coincidentally happened to be the same week that Roe vs Wade [was overturned], and she is American. Because she was foreign to the island, there was less of that fear that she would face repercussions. Since she grabbed the bull by the horns and went with it, we have had a number of women who have come forward, and we have two cases that will potentially be filed in the coming months. The minister of health, who is also the deputy prime minister, just announced this week that a law will be tabled to amend the total ban. What this is going to include we have no idea,
but we know that something is in the pipeline.
Megan Clement What will happen if Andrea wins her case?
Lara Dimitrijevic It’s up to the state whether they would amend the laws because of an individual breach of human rights. Not necessarily. It could be that the judiciary would then turn to parliament and say, “You have to amend the legislation.” But I think that just by the very fact that you have a judgment from a court that is independent and impartial, securing rights and saying, “This was wrong” – I think that would speak volumes. It would reaffirm that we need this change.
Megan Clement What opposition are you up against in Malta?
Lara Dimitrijevic Anti-abortion [sentiment] comes in degrees. You have the extremists, who do concern me because you might have the one person who could be extreme to the extent that they could become a threat to women. [Editor’s note: Dimitrijevic herself has received threats for her activism, including having bullets left at her home]
Two weeks ago, we had a youth parliament, where young people go to parliament and debate different issues. The issues that they chose this year were abortion and the environment. It seems that a list was leaked of the students who were going argue for pro-choice, and they started receiving threats. We have this form of intimidation, and this is something that we are up against. On the other hand, this was received very poorly because nobody is accepting of silencing democracy. So in a way, the more extreme they are, the better for the cause.
We are up against ingrained beliefs, so we have to keep the conversation going. But I think this is where we have succeeded, because people gradually have started engaging.
Megan Clement Abortion has been taboo in Malta for a very long time. Do you get a sense that things are beginning to change?
Lara Dimitrijevic Things have been changing faster than I would have expected. Since we started our pro-choice campaign, we have seen a major shift. We recently ran a poll that clearly indicates that there has been a shift to the positive. We thank Andrea for her courage
to have come out publicly and spoken about her horrific journey and her trauma, because people are beginning to understand why the law is not right and not just.
Megan Clement Are you hopeful that you will see abortion at least partially decriminalized in the coming years?
Lara Dimitrijevic Yes I am, and I think sooner than one would expect. There are indications that we are going to have a shift from a total ban. I’m not anticipating anything grand, but just by the very fact that the government is taking this on board, and considering some form of amendment to the legislation, is already positive. We have successfully campaigned, which is something I am proud of for myself and my sisters and colleagues.
At the beginning of my campaign, I remember being in Ireland. When the Irish activists and I were talking, they said, “Oh my goodness, you’re where Ireland was 30 years ago.” And I said, “It’s not going to take 30 years. No way. It can’t go on like this, we’re exhausted.” I just recently met some of those Irish activists again and they said, “Now you’re where Ireland was just a bit before going to a referendum,” which is a big leap. It could be gradual, but the younger generation, in the next five years, will be 40+. They will be the next politicians and I cannot imagine that any of these extreme ideologies will still reign.
Megan Clement After Roe vs Wade fell, we have seen a campaign for France to inscribe the right to abortion into its consitution, and the voters of Chile just rejected a proposed constitution that did so. Do you think abortion should be an explicit constitutional right?
Lara Dimitrijevic 100% – simply because with this shift to right-wing ideology and the heavy backlash that we’re seeing, women’s rights
need to be protected. One of the most important rights that women have is access to healthcare including abortion care. We’ve seen countries that have started reversing – look at Poland, and now we have Hungary introducing a heartbeat law. I think it needs to be an entrenched, constant rule. With the rise of the far-right, the first thing that they do is go after women’s rights – abortion being one of them, and this would cement it.
Megan Clement We
ask everybody we interview this question: how do you keep going in your activism in the face of threats and backlash?
Lara Dimitrijevic I am privileged to keep going. When I say I’m privileged, it’s because I have a good family support structure and I am self-employed so I don’t have to worry about any repercussions that I could face at my job. But I am also very firm in my convictions. This is something that needs to be done and I cannot imagine myself not doing it.