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Malta lawmaker Marlene Farrugia talks with the Associated Press, in Velletta, Malta, on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. An unexpected proposal to decriminalize abortion in Malta has stirred up a polarized debate about an issue long considered taboo in the country with the strictest abortion laws in the European Union. Farrugia caught many by surprise earlier this month when she presented a bill in Parliament calling for the removal of paragraphs in the criminal code that make it a crime punishable by up to three years in prison to have an abortion or assisting a woman in having one. (AP/Rene Rossignaud)