In A Setback To Women’s Rights, Italy Has Passed A Bill That Would Allow Anti-Abortion Activists To Enter Abortion Clinics
Anti-abortion activists are currently not allowed into abortion clinics over concerns it will interfere with women’s rights to make their own decisions about their bodies.
In a setback to women’s rights, Italy has passed a bill that would allow anti-abortion activists to enter abortion clinics.
A woman with their hands in red paint attends a protest organised by Italian feminist Movement "Non una di meno" to mark the annual International Safe Abortion Day. (Photo by Stefano Montesi - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Anti-abortion activists are currently not allowed into abortion clinics over concerns it will interfere with women’s rights to make their own decisions about their bodies.
A woman with their hands in red paint attends a protest organised by Italian feminist Movement "Non una di meno" to mark the annual International Safe Abortion Day. (Photo by Stefano Montesi - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
But the amendment, which is expected to pass the upper house too, will let “nonprofit groups with qualified experience in supporting maternity” enter the centers that issue the certificates for abortions.
Women demonstrate during a protest organized by the Italian feminist movement "Non Una di Meno". (Photo by Mauro Ujetto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Abortion in the first 90 days of a pregnancy has been legal in Italy, which is traditionally Catholic, since 1978.
woman takes part in a march in the wake of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Rome. (Photo by Christian Minelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
After that, people can only get abortions when there is a risk to their life or in the case of fetal abnormalities.
Young women take part in a gathering marking the annual International Safe Abortion Day, on September 28, 2022 in downtown Rome. (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Meloni is strongly against abortion but promised she wouldn’t change the law in the 2022 election.
Her party claims the new amendment will offer women “an opportunity for reflection”.
Woman hold a sign during a protest organised by Italian feminist Movement "Non una di meno" to mark the annual International Safe Abortion Day. (Photo by Stefano Montesi - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
In 2021, about 63% of gynecologists refused to carry out the procedure due to moral or religious reasons, according to health ministry data.
A woman holds a banner reading, My Body My Choice during a protest organised by Italian feminist Movement "Non una di meno" to mark the annual International Safe Abortion Day. (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)
Additionally, several regions led by the right-wing party have already limited access to the abortion pill.
Kassy Cho
