Malta has the most strict laws on abortion in the European Union, making it a crime punishable by up to 3 years in prison to have an abortion or to assist a woman in having an abortion. However, it is reported that the law has been rarely enforced; the last person jailed was in 1980.

Now a lawmaker has proposed to Parliament that those paragraphs in the criminal code be removed. Although this has produced a polarizing debate, it is said that the bill is not likely to advance. However, Malta has liberalized some laws in the last several years, first legalizing divorce in 2011 and then same-sex marriage in 2017.

Abortion is broadly legal in most European countries. However, Poland recently restricted abortion with exception only for rape and incest, or if the mother’s health or life is at risk.

It is estimated that about 300 Maltese women have abortion every year, either by somehow obtaining the abortion pills or by traveling to another country.