Her speech, “The Right to a Dignified Motherhood: The Crucial Abortion Issue," was intended to persuade Maltese citizens to change their views on the legalisation of abortion. The moderator of the event was Dr. Emmy Bezzina who said that he hopes the talk will "generate a positive discussion on the subject."

Gomperts is the director of Women on Waves, the pro-abortion organization that has taken its converted tugboat to international waters outside pro-life nations to give women the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug.

The abortion controversy in Malta and the visit by Gomperts is the subject of an article published by a Canadian news organization. Steven Ertelt, editor of LifeNews.com wrote that the head of the pro-abortion group that operates the abortion ship that has targeted the people of Ireland, Portugal and Poland is now targeting Malta, one of the few European nations that makes abortion illegal.

According to the Lifenews report, the abortion ship is confronting several issues with the Dutch government where it is registered before it can travel to nations to promote abortions. The Netherlands has mandated that the abortion ship not do abortions any later than seven weeks into pregnancy and that it have an agreement with a local hospital in the nation it anchors outside of in case a botched abortion requires immediate medical attention. Women on Waves are appealing the decision before it travels to any additional nations.

Pro-life advocates from the group Gift of Life led the offensive against the arrival of Gomperts. The Gift of Life Foundation said on Tuesday that the candle-lit, pro-life protest outside Castille Hotel, in Valletta "must remain peaceful and silent at all times".

"The pro-life movement insists that though emotions may at times run high when faced by some who may display even a total disregard for the life of the child in the womb, participants are in duty bound to remember that the most potent message is always one that comes in peace and respect of others and it is with this very sentiment with which we will hold this event," the Foundation said.

Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech issued a joint statement highlighting the Church's teachings to respect life from the first moment of conception. "Abortion is not a choice or a right. Abortion is murder. Abortion is the denial of the right to life and the destruction of humans and civil society," the bishops said. They appealed to Maltese and Gozitans to cherish the gift of life and encouraged doctors and those in the medical profession to seek the mission of healing, not death.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Maltese Religious Major Superiors, gathered for their annual formation seminar, issued a press statement saying that Dr Gomperts deserves full respect as a human person and as a woman but that this same respect should not be denied to human life, at whatever stage of development or growth. The Conference claimed that Dr Gomperts has come “to advocate on our own soil the to kill one’s own child”.

Another Catholic organization, The Moviment Kattoliku Studenti Universitarji (MKSU) has condemned the way that women’s rights are being used as an excuse to try and push forward the legalisation of abortion in Malta by Dr Rebecca Gomperts.

The movement fails to see how Dr Gomperts can speak of the protection of fundamental human rights while at the same time speak in favour of the murder of innocent persons. MKSU is urging the Maltese society to support anti-abortion campaigns while stressing the value of entrenching an anti-abortion clause into Malta’s constitution.