Bernard Grech’s stand against abortion is just a damage limitation exercise

Blog post by Romegas

After a year occupying the post of leader of the opposition, Bernard Grech finally came off the fence and unequivocally stated his and his party’s stance on abortion:

“No one in favour of abortion will be allowed to form part of, or represent PN”

and

“The issue of abortion, for me, is a closed one. This party was, is, and will remain against abortion. My predecessors and I have made this position clear. The party’s position is also clearly listed in its statute.”

While such a statement is always welcome, and as the English expression goes it’s better late than never – the statement still rankles, why?

Disgruntled Nationalists and Christians of any political disposition remain unconvinced that this was a statement of conviction, for otherwise the issue would have been laid to rest much earlier, it seems to them that this was first and foremost a damage limitation exercise rather than a point of principle, stated only after the party got embroiled in the unsavoury situation whereby a potential “star” candidate known for her pro-choice views was denounced on social media in no uncertain terms by grassroots members of the same party, whereby as a consequence, several of them were hauled by the police for questioning on the charge of ‘hate speech’ following a formal report.

Matters became more embarrassing, when the Island’s biggest anti-abortion group that enjoys rank membership in their thousands of both PN and Labour supporters, having its eyes firmly on the battle to come, and extremely aware of how these ‘culture wars’ have been fought elsewhere, immediately offered those hauled for questioning with free of charge legal representation while the PN itself stood in limbo, not knowing whether to defend its own potential candidate or its own supporters taking the same potential candidate to task for her views or whether to continue sitting on the fence, the typical stance for which it has become infamous, whereby it declares lofty things on paper but rarely stands by them in practice, and that is why grave doubts persist on whether it actually believes in them at all.