The Italian parliament has passed a measure by Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government allowing anti-abortion activists to enter consultation clinics, sparking outrage from opposition parties. The measure allows regions to permit groups "with a qualified experience supporting motherhood" to have access to women considering abortions at clinics run by the state-funded healthcare system.

Rome

The Italian parliament has adopted a new measure introduced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration, permitting anti-abortion activists access to state-run consultation clinics. This legislative change enables groups “with a qualified experience supporting motherhood” to interact with women who are contemplating abortion within clinics that are part of the state-funded healthcare system. The enactment of this measure has incited significant backlash from opposition parties, who view it as a direct intrusion into women's rights and autonomy.

Protests ensued outside the Italian Senate as the measure was approved, encapsulating the public's escalating concern over what many perceive as an infringement on women's freedom. The approval came as part of an amendment embedded within a post-Covid-19 recovery bill, without the opportunity for a parliamentary debate or discussion. This move by Meloni's hard-right party is seen as a strategy to deter women from proceeding with abortions.

Italy’s existing law, since 1978, allows for abortion on request within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. However, the practical accessibility of abortion services is complicated by the allowance for doctors to refuse performing the procedure on grounds of conscientious objection. The recent measure, critics argue, is a further effort by Prime Minister Meloni to restrict abortion access, underlining the law's paternalistic nature regarding the social protection of motherhood, where abortion is viewed explicitly as an exception.

Prime Minister Meloni contends that the initiative aligns with the intended purpose of the 1978 law that legalized abortion, aiming to ensure women are fully informed before making a decision. Furthermore, Meloni, supported by the Vatican, has emphasized initiatives to increase Italy’s birthrate, which counts among the lowest globally, by promoting policies to achieve at least 500,000 births annually by 2033.



Italy law allows pro-life activists into abortion clinics

Outside the Italian Senate, protesters called it an attack on women's freedom. As inside, senators approved a measure to allow anti-abortion activists to enter consultation clinics, a move that would try to discourage women from terminating their pregnancies. The proposal was passed after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right party attached it in an amendment to a post-Covid-19 recovery bill. We are forced to suffer an amendment that was decided by a part of this majority without a parliamentary debate, without any discussion. On paper, Italy allows abortion on request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, but in practice it's not that easy in the traditionally Catholic country, as the law allows doctors to refuse to terminate a pregnancy if they register as conscientious objectors. Critics say Giorgia Meloni is determined to make abortion even harder to access. The law is extremely paternalistic because it's the law for the social protection of motherhood and it foresees abortion as an exception that must be hindered as much as possible. Law 194 does not provide for the self-determination of one's own body. Meloni insists her plan merely fulfils the original aim of the 1978 law that legalised abortion, which allows clinics to collaborate with groups that quote, support motherhood. I believe that to make a free choice you need to have all the necessary information. This is what the law 194 foresees and I think this is the right thing to do. But Meloni has also prioritised boosting Italy's birth rate, one of the lowest in the world, Backed by the Vatican, Meloni's party has mounted a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033.

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