The bad news is Marlene’s abortion Bill could be dead in the water (hope I’m wrong) Marlene Farrugia handed a grenade to the parties controlling the House Business Committee and asked them to take out the safety pin. All odds against Matthew Vella 13 May 2021, 8:48am A MaltaToday cartoon by Mark Scicluna from 19 June 2016 The reality is that abortion is a wedge issue for both Labour and the Nationalist parties, which are the two parties in the House who control the agenda. You have to ask whether any of these two parties want to be debating an abortion decriminalisation bill in the House in what might also be an election year?