Italy's right is already trying to limit the right to abortion
Rights — di Luigi Mastrodonato
On the first day of the parliamentary session, MPs from the right-wing majority tabled three bills that would restrict the right to abortion.
Italy's right is already trying to limit the right to abortion
On the first day of the parliamentary session, MPs from the right-wing majority tabled three bills that would restrict the right to abortion.
- Forza Italia senator Maurizio Gasparri has proposed that legal personhood be recognised from the moment of conception.
- Gasparri has also tabled a bill calling for the establishment of a "day of nascent life".
- League senator Romeo is instead calling for funds to discourage recourse to abortion and for a reform of family planning clinics.
On 20 October, consultations began at the Quirinale to form the new Italian government, but in parliament the right has already begun its battle against abortion. On the first day of the parliamentary session, 13 October, MPs from the right-wing majority had already tabled three bills that would, in one way or another, affect Law 194 on the termination of pregnancy, already under attack in Italy through regional initiatives and conscientious objector doctors.
A move that is probably symbolic, yet one that undermines Giorgia Meloni's promises that she had no intention of obstructing the right to abortion in Italy.
Erosion of the right to abortion
The right to abortion in Italy is recognised by Law 194 of 1978. In practice, however, the obstacles a woman must face in order to carry out a voluntary termination of pregnancy remain endless to this day.
In Italy, conscientious objector doctors account for 70 per cent of the total, and in as many as 31 national health facilities the figure reaches 100 per cent. In Molise, for years there was only one centre where it was possible to have an abortion, and when one of the only two non-objecting doctors announced their retirement, the region became the first in Italy to be almost entirely without voluntary termination of pregnancy services.
All of this is compounded by numerous local initiatives that further complicate the situation, encouraging the involvement of pro-life movements in public facilities and lengthening the process for accessing pharmacological termination of pregnancy, complete with compulsory hospitalisation. After years of talking about the traditional family and the protection of life, Giorgia Meloni adjusted her stance during the election campaign and swore she would not touch the right to abortion should she win. A promise also found in her electoral programme, which guarantees "full application of Law 194", while also emphasising the importance of investing resources to promote the part of the law that deals with supporting women in their choice.
Just a few days after the right's victory in the national elections, the right-wing regional government of Piedmont, perhaps riding the ideological wave, approved in committee a law allocating 400,000 euros to be directed at women to persuade them not to have an abortion. Now, in Rome too, right-wing MPs have already begun working in this direction. A preview of the erosion of the right to abortion that Italy could face under the new government.
The proposals against abortion
The most active opponent of the right to abortion on the first day of the parliamentary session, 13 October, was Maurizio Gasparri, a Forza Italia senator.
The first bill he tabled calls for an amendment to Article 1 of the Civil Code regarding the recognition of legal personhood for the unborn. Today, legal personhood, and all the rights that flow from it, is acquired from the moment of birth, but Gasparri would like this threshold to be moved forward to the moment of conception. A measure that would overturn everything in terms of the right to abortion, since the latter would immediately fall within the domain of voluntary homicide.
La destra già all’assalto dei diritti, partendo dall’#aborto.
Gasparri propone una legge che riconosce personalità giuridica al concepito, quindi una donna che per qualsiasi motivo vuole o deve interrompere la gravidanza commetterebbe un omicidio.
Fermeremo questa mostruosità.
Gasparri propone una legge che riconosce personalità giuridica al concepito, quindi una donna che per qualsiasi motivo vuole o deve interrompere la gravidanza commetterebbe un omicidio.
Fermeremo questa mostruosità.
Gasparri also tabled a proposal providing for the establishment of a "day of nascent life". A development that would operate on the ideological and cultural level of society, paving the way for activity in schools by all those pro-life associations that form part of the Italian anti-abortion movement of which Gasparri himself is one of the leading figures. Finally, moving away from the topic of termination of pregnancy but remaining in the sphere of women's rights and freedoms, the Forza Italia senator tabled a bill providing for the criminalisation of surrogacy carried out abroad.
On 13 October there was also time for another proposal that could hinder the application of Law 194, put forward by League senator Massimiliano Romeo. The text, entitled "Provisions for the protection of the family and nascent life, for the reconciliation of work and family life and delegation to the Government for the regulation of the family factor", is the same one tabled in 2021 and seeks recognition of the conceived child — and not only the unborn — as a full member of the family in every respect, effectively taking the same path as Gasparri's proposal on legal personhood. It also calls for the allocation of funds aimed at preventing women from resorting to voluntary termination of pregnancy, as well as the arrangement of public initiatives for the promotion of family and life. Finally, it calls for a reform of family planning clinics so that they may "protect life from the moment of its conception."
All these bills will be referred to the relevant parliamentary committees for examination, after which, if appropriate, it will be for parliament to vote on their approval.