Andrea and her partner have been waiting in Malta for almost a week after she bled. The Maltese authorities refuse to abort her, as well as to travel to do so in another country.
A couple of Americans today appealed to the Maltese authorities to allow them to leave the country so that the woman could have an abortion and not risk her life further, after she showed symptoms of miscarriage.
Andrea Prudente and her partner, Jay Wildrayer, from Seattle, were vacationing on the island when Prudente, who is 16 weeks pregnant, was bleeding. The couple asked for the pregnancy to be terminated so that Prudente would not risk infection or even death. But doctors in Malta refused, Wilderier told the local Times.
The couple then asked to fly to Britain, where they could have an abortion, but doctors refused to certify that Andrea was able to travel.
"We came to Malta to celebrate the pregnancy. "We certainly did not come to have an abortion, but we are here to discuss how to save a woman's life," Wilderier, 45, told the newspaper.
Andrea and her partner have been waiting for almost a week after doctors told them they would lose the baby. The medical staff of Mater Dei State Hospital refuse to have an abortion because there is still a heartbeat and do not consider the mother's life to be in immediate danger.
The Maltese health authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
"We got stuck here (…) we chose Malta because it was safe and had good health care and now we are being held hostage to this situation," Wildrayer said.
The Maltese NGO Doctors For Choice said it supported the couple's request and warned that there was a risk of a repeat of the tragedy of Savita Jalapanavar, who died of sepsis in Ireland in 2012 after being discharged on the 17th. week of her pregnancy. "The infection can spread to the uterus and blood, leading to death," the organization said, according to APE-MPE.
According to opinion polls, the vast majority of Maltese disagree with the legalization of abortion. The country's two largest parties are also opposed to legalizing abortion.
Malta is the only country in the European Union that does not allow abortions under any circumstances.
