Article 241 Laws of Malta – Amended 2023

Date of entry into force: 1854
Amended in 2023 - Abortion in Malta is legal in cases where the life of the pregnant woman is at risk.
 AP (2023-06-28). "Malta to allow abortion but only when woman's life is at risk". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077

The Criminal Code of Malta was first introduced in 1854 and includes abortion in sections alongside 'crimes against the person' (in Article 218) and the administration or supplying of 'substances poisonous or injurious to health' (in Articles 241-243).
Article 241, on procuring miscarriage, states:
(1) Whosoever, by any food, drink, medicine, or by violence, or by any other means whatsoever, shall cause the miscarriage of any woman with child, whether the woman be consenting or not, shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term from eighteen months to three years.
(2) The same punishment shall be awarded against any woman who shall procure her own miscarriage, or who shall have consented to the use of the means by which the miscarriage is procured.
In addition, the law prohibits:
- causing death or grievous bodily harm by means used for miscarriage (Article 242);
- knowingly prescribing or administering the means whereby the miscarriage is procured (Article 243);
- culpable miscarriage i.e. by imprudence, carelessness, unskilfulness, or non-observance of regulations (Article 243A); and
- grievous bodily harm committed on a woman with child which causes a miscarriage, as an aggravated offence (Article 218(1)(c)).
The law on culpable miscarriage was introduced in 2002 as part of a revision of the criminal law.
A further amendment of the Code (Article 243B) clarified the exceptional circumstances in which abortion is permitted, for 'saving the life and protecting the health of a pregnant woman' where she is 'suffering from a medical complication' which may place her:
life at immediate risk; or
health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.
This exemption only applies when, after having considered current medical practices in Malta, 'circumstances of necessity still subsist which dictate that the medical intervention be carried out.'
In cases where the life of the woman may be at immediate risk, the intervention is done when 'in the reasonable opinion of the medical practitioner carrying out the intervention, the foetus has not reached the period of viability'.
In cases where the health of a pregnant woman may be in grave jeopardy which may lead to death, three additional conditions also apply:
(i) that in 'the reasonable opinion of the medical team', the foetus has not reached the period of viability and cannot be delivered according to the standards of the medical profession;[10]
(ii) that the medical intervention is carried out 'only after the medical team has confirmed the necessity of the intervention' and
(iii) that the medical intervention is carried out in a licensed hospital having the facilities required for the necessary medical intervention to be carried out.
Amendment : No offence under sub-article (2) of article 241 or article 243 shall be committed when the cessation of a pregnancy or damage to the foetus results from a medical intervention carried out for the purpose of saving the life and protecting the health of a pregnant woman suffering from a medical complication which may put her life at immediate risk or her health in grave jeopardy which can lead to death:
Provided that the exemption from criminal responsibility by virtue of this article shall apply only when after having considered the medical practices current in Malta circumstances of necessity still subsist which dictate that the medical intervention be carried out and if the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a) in the case of a pregnant woman suffering from a medical complication which may put her life at immediate risk the medical intervention is done when in the reasonable opinion of the medical practitioner carrying out the intervention the foetus has not reached the period of viability;
Or
(b) in the case of a medical intervention carried out due to a medical complication which places the health of a pregnant woman in grave jeopardy which may lead to death:
(i) that in the reasonable opinion of the medical team the foetus has not reached the period of viability and cannot be delivered according to the standards of the medical profession;
And
(ii) that the medical intervention is carried out only after the medical team has confirmed the necessity of the intervention; and
(iii) that the medical intervention is carried out in a licensed hospital having the facilities required for the necessary medical intervention to be carried out;