A graphic ‘anti-abortion’ video is being shown to teenagers as part of a religion lesson on the subject of abortion in Maltese government schools.
The explicit material is a compilation of videos of abortions being performed at different stages of woman’s pregnancy.
Before the lesson begins, students aged 14/15 years old are told that they’ll be discussing abortion. In many cases this is the first time children that age have been exposed to the topic. The class teacher then gives a short explation about what abortion is and why it's is immoral and contrary to the Catholic faith.
“As Christians we must not take a human life. An abortion is the killing of a person in the womb, and therefore abortion goes against our religion.”
A video is loaded on the classroom interactive whiteboard and students are warned that the following clips contain ‘bloody and graphic material’. “Those who feel uncomfortable seeing blood may leave the classroom.” she cautions.
With the lights already dimmed, the entire class remains silent and no objections are raised. As the video plays, the teen’s eyes are fixated on the screen, horror-struck by the impressive visuals.
“It’s a compilation of aborted fetuses being handled, poked and prodded by long metal instruments from start to finish,” a source who works at a government school in Pembroke told SideStreet Malta. "There’s no explanation, no doctor who provides any description of what is going on, just one gruesome video after another of fetuses being maimed and mutilated ”.
After the video finishes there’s no time for discussion. The school bell rings and everyone dashes out of class to tell their friends about “that scary abortion video”.
The source confessed that the video actually seemed to have had a strong effect on one of his pupils. “Ever since watching that video, Michael* hasn’t stopped talking to his friends about abortion. He’s staunchly anti-abortion and goes around school telling his peers that “he does not agree with abortion”.
This is not the first time reports of an ‘anti-abortion’ video being used as teaching material have surfaced in the media. Pro-choice NGO Doctors for Choice have repeatedly called for “The Silent Scream”, an “anti-abortion propaganda film” produced in the 1980s, to stop being shown to young children in schools.
"The Silent Scream has been shown in Maltese schools for decades and this practice must end. The film misrepresents abortion and fuels stigma, to the detriment of women in Malta who need abortions and have had abortions," the NGO said back in 2020.
Our source confirmed that the movie, which was shown to teens as early as last week, was a much more recent production compared to “The Silent Scream". It doesn't feature any narration or exposition and is just a bunch of raw clips of botched abortions stitched together, he said.
In 2017, a lesson delivered by the pro-life lobby Life Network Foundation to fifth form students at the National Sports School triggered an 'evalution' of the lesson material by the Education Ministry.
On that occasion, the ministry said that it continued to respect the professionalism and judgment of the educators. ________________________________________________________________________________________ If you were ever exposed to material about abortion as a young teen feel free to reach out to us on any of our social media platforms or on hello@sidestreetmalta.com *Names have been changed for privacy reasons