A gay rights group on the Mediterranean island of Malta is taking a pro-life organization to court after the pro-lifers blamed the group for taking money from the abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
The Malta Gay Rights Movement claims the Gift Of Life committed libel against them in a series of posts on Facebook, Malta Today reports. In the lawsuit, the group said Gift Of Life wrongly accused them of taking money from Planned Parenthood to support abortion and embryo freezing legislation in Malta.
The report continues:
The Labour government is planning to reintroduce embryo freezing after the practice was banned by the Nationalist administration in 2012 when it introduced assisted reproduction on the national health register using only egg freezing technology.
The legislative proposals, yet to be published, will not introduce abortion which remains a criminal act in Malta.
MGRM has denied having any ties to Planned Parenthood, and instead it declared that in 2010 it had acquired funds from International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) – which is a separate organisation to Planned Parenthood – to submit proposals to the government on the introduction of the Gender Identity Act.
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In various Facebook posts however, Gift Of Life made various claims such as:
• “BREAKING NEWS! ARE THE MALTA GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT BEING SUPPORTED BY INTERNATIONAL ABORTION PROMOTERS – PLANNED PARENTHOOD? The drive to legalize abortion by stealth, under the disguise of Embryo freezing is now clearer for you to understand.” (30 September)
• “It is now clear that Planned Parenthood are using the MGRM, as well as this new pro-abortion group, in a two-pronged attack on human life in Malta. If you stay silent, you are failing those who cannot defend themselves.” (1 October)
• and: “There is no other reason why IPPF are financially supporting the MGRM in Malta other than to then push to open their abortion franchises (clinics) here as well. It is huge money, a colossal business and too tempting to resist for the world’s most aggressive extremist pro-abortion organisation to resist.” (2 October).
The gay rights group said it never advocated for the legalization of abortion in Malta.
“MGRM has no position on abortion, and this issue does not even fall within its aims,” the group told the news outlet. “These comments are libelous in its regard because they contain false and defamatory allegations in a bid to put the organization in disrepute.”
There is a societal assumption that people who support gay rights also support legalized abortion, but this is not always true. While some gay rights advocates support abortion and work with pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, others are pro-life advocates who stand up for the right to life of unborn children.
