Andrea Prudente and Jay Weeldreyer were ecstatic about their pregnancy—so much so that they booked “babymoon” tickets to Malta, a country they’d soon come to learn has extremely strict anti-abortion laws. When Prudente began having problems 16 weeks in, doctors told her the pregnancy wasn’t viable. But her partner says Maltese doctors are refusing to terminate the pregnancy due to stringent anti-abortion laws, despite it being a simple procedure. “What is hard to convey is the torture that has happened since she’s been checked in here,” Weeldreyer told VICE. “She’s getting poked multiple times a day, blood, every day they’ll check a heartbeat, they aren’t facilitating her to go into labor. The baby’s heartbeat may or may not stop. It is a daily reminder of the baby we can’t have, and a child that poses her a life threatening risk.” He added that his partner tested positive for COVID-19 when they arrived to the country, too. The couple has been waiting six days for an insurance company to approve an emergency medical evacuation to the U.K., where the procedure is legal. Women in Malta are only allowed to terminate pregnancies if they are “imminently dying,” VICE reported. “It took a day for Andrea to receive her file and we are dealing with an emergency situation,” Prudente’s lawyer told The Guardian. “Every minute could lend itself to putting Andrea’s life in danger.”
