The Italian opposition and associations have accused the government of wanting to call into question Law 194, which regulates access to abortion in Italy.
:quality(50)/2023/07/05/64a55fd777de4_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Reading time: 1 min
:quality(50)/2024/04/21/075-cippitelli-presscon240103-np99f-6624e5aca9a5a884073748.jpg)
New setback for women’s rights. On Thursday April 18, Italian deputies voted for an amendment to Fratelli d’Italia, the far-right party of Council President Giorgia Meloni, allowing anti-abortion organizations to enter counseling centers. These are the structures through which women can go to obtain a certificate from a doctor, then have access to abortion, specifies The world.
Presented by MP Lorenzo Malagola of Fratelli d’Italia, the measure implies that women can rely on entities with a “qualified experience in maternity support”, during their passage through these consultant, advice centers. The measure was included in a global text relating to the implementation of the post-Covid European recovery plan and was adopted by 140 votes to 91, specifies Politico. It must now be voted on by the Senate.
Access to abortion increasingly hampered
Faced with this measure, the Italian opposition and associations accused the government of wanting to call into question Law 194, which regulates access to abortion in Italy. The secretary of the Democratic Party denounced “heavy attack on women’s freedom”while the M5S criticized a “another step backward”. “At the local level, the ‘anti-abortionists’ have already infiltrated the counseling centers”, nuance however with the WorldChiara Fonzi, of the abortion rights association Laiga 194.
Abortion was legalized in 1978 in Italy, but access to it is increasingly difficult due to the number of gynecologists who refuse to perform abortions for moral or religious reasons. According to data from the Italian Ministry of Health, in 2021, around 63% of gynecologists refused to perform the procedure.
