The Economist Asia Edition – July 27, 2019

40 Europe The EconomistJuly 27th 2019

A

s faraslivespectatorsportsgo,the

TourdeFrancehastobeoneofthe

strangest.Forhours,thousandsofen-

thusiastslinetherouteundera baking

sun.Aficionadosbringparasols,folding

chairsandpicnics.Atlast,thereisaction

ontheroad.Butit isthelongcaravanof

advertisingvehicleswhichprecedesthe

racers.Andthensuddenly,ina flashof

limegreenandyellow,thebreakaway

cyclists,followedbythepeloton, orcy-

clingpack,pass.It alllastsa matterof

seconds.Butthenagaintheworld’smost

famouscyclingraceisasmuchaboutthe

geographyandnationalidentityof

Franceasit isaboutthesport.

ThetouristhrillingtheFrenchthis

year.Forthefirsttimein 34 years,a

Frenchman—eitherThibautPinotor

JulianAlaphilippe—hasa chanceof

winningwhentheracefinishesonthe

Champs-ElyséesonJuly28th.Forde-

cades,theFrenchhavewatchedwith

dismayastheSpanish,Americansand

Britishhavesuccessivelymonopolised

thetrophy(seechart).Frenchsuspicions

ofcheatingusedtoseemlikesourgrapes.

Butin 2012 LanceArmstrong,a seven-

timeAmericanwinner,wasstrippedof

histitlesaftera dopingscandal.

Today,thetourhasrecoveredits

credibilityasanextremetestofmuscular

endurance,andwithit thecountry’s

enthusiasm.TheFrenchairwaveshave

beenfilledwithbreathlesslivecoverage

oftherace,withits21 separatestages

covering3,480km(2,162miles).Thisyear

isalsothecentenaryofthemaillotjaune,

oryellowjersey,awardeddailytotherace

leader.Tocelebrate,onJuly20thPresi-

dentEmmanuelMacronwasattheCol

duTourmaletinthePyreneestocongrat-

ulatemaillotjaune-wearingMrAlaphi-

lippeaswellastheday’swinner,who

happenedtobeMrPinot.

In 1903 HenriDesgrange,anearly

cyclingenthusiast,devisedthetourto

helppublicisehissportsnewspaper.Yet

thesedaysthetouralsoservestopro-

moteFrance.OnJuly24thcyclistssped

pastthemedievalvillageofFaucon,

havingstartedattheRomanaqueductof

thePontduGard,beforeendinginthe

foothillsoftheAlps.MoreoftheFrench

thinkoftheraceasanopportunityto

admirethescenerythanseeit asa great

sportingevent,saysa poll.Thisbeing

France,existentialmusingsarealsoin

order.Thetour,saidChristianPrud-

homme,itsdirector,is“life,condensed...

allthewonderful,exceptional,dis-

concerting,unfortunatethingsthatcan

happen:it islife.”

Cycling’scominghome

TourdeFrance

FAUCON

ThemeaningoftheTourdeFrance

34 yearsofhurt

Source:Tour

deFrance

*LanceArmstrongstrippedofsevenwinsfrom

1999 to2005.Nowinnerdeclaredfortheseyears

TourdeFrancewinsbycountry

France 36

Belgium 18

Spain 12

Italy 10

Britain 6

Luxembourg 5

UnitedStates* 3

Netherlands 2

Switzerland 2

Australia 1

Germany 1

Denmark 1

Ireland 1 Yearlastwon

1985

1976

2009

2014

2018

2010

1990

1980

1951

2011

1997

1996

1987

P

ope pius xi, who died in 1939, described

Malta as “Malta Cattolicissima”. Today,

that is not quite as true as it once was. The

first schism with Catholic doctrine came in

2011, when divorce was legalised after a bit-

terly fought referendum. For the past four

years, Malta has retained its top spot in

ilga-Europe’s Rainbow Index, a ranking of

policy towards lgbtpeople in 49 European

countries. Same-sex couples now have

equal marriage and adoption rights.

Yet Malta remains the only European

Union member state which bans abortion

in all circumstances. Under a law dating to

1724, women who procure an abortion in

Malta risk being imprisoned for up to three

years. The second-most-stringent eu

country, Poland, allows abortion in very

limited circumstances (as does Northern

Ireland, which is even stricter, though a

law passed in Westminster earlier this

month could change that).

A fledgling grassroots movement is

now positioning itself to break the taboo.

“We want to normalise saying the word

‘abortion’,” says Lara Dimitrijevic, the foun-

der of the Women’s Rights Foundation, an

ngo. In 2016 the foundation filed a judicial

protest, signed by 100 Maltese women,

claiming that the nationwide ban of the

morning-after pill (which is not abortifa-

cient) was a violation of their human

rights. The pill was legalised soon after. In

March last year her group began campaign-

ing for the public provision of abortion to

Maltese women, at least when a woman’s

health is at risk, and in cases of rape, incest

or fatal fetal impairment.

Dr Andrea Dibben of the University of

Malta says that such is the stigma around

abortion that she knows of no Maltese

woman to have spoken publicly about get-

ting one. The activists estimate that 370

women, in a country with a population of

460,000, travel to terminate a pregnancy

each year. According to the British govern-

ment, 58 Maltese women sought an abor-

tion in Britain in 2016. Many more travel to

nearby Sicily, but even there they encoun-

ter long hospital waiting lists. That some-

times pushes women to seek out back-

street clinicians, with all of the risk that

brings. Increasingly, Maltese women are

also illegally importing abortion pills

bought online. A 30-year-old woman was

given a two-year suspended prison sen-

tence for using a pill in 2014.

Even trying to organise is difficult.

When the Republic of Ireland overwhelm-

ingly voted to repeal its abortion ban in

May last year, Maltese activists began copy-

ing tactics from their Irish counterparts,

replicating their strategy of setting up an

association of pro-choice medical doctors.

But in Malta most of its 51 members chose

to remain anonymous.

Those who have revealed their identity

were reported to the national Medical

Council, which regulates doctors, by an

anti-abortion doctor who—unsuccessful-

ly—requested that they be struck off the

medical register. When an openly pro-

choice doctor stood in the election to the

board of the council this month, a recently

formed counter-organisation, Doctors for

Life, emailed eligible voters urging them to

vote for a list of five anti-abortion candi-

dates, four of whom were indeed elected;

the pro-choice doctor was not.

Last year Malta’s prime minister, Joseph

Muscat, told the Council of Europe that his

government “neither has the political

mandate to open a debate on access to

abortion, nor the support of public opin-

ion”. Polls suggest around nine-tenths of

the population continue to oppose abor-

tion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Al-

though Malta’s pro-choice activists have

sparked a conversation, victory seems a

long way off. 7

The pro-choice movement in Malta

faces an upward struggle

Malta and abortion

The last taboo