In Italy, anti-abortion groups are now allowed free access to abortion centers

In Italy, in the future, representatives of specifically anti-abortion groups will be able to participate in the counseling process prescribed for women applying for an abortion before the intervention, MTI reports. The new legislation was approved earlier by the lower house, and the senate voted on it on Tuesday.

According to the provision, any organization with “experience in supporting motherhood” will be given access to the centers where women considering abortion must attend a consultation.

For example, members of the group Pro Vita e Famiglia will be given the opportunity to visit women in health facilities and counseling centers, although the organization said on Tuesday that it has no such plans.

Opposition MP Luigi Spagnoli said: “if counseling centers are invaded by anti-abortion groups, it’s like anti-vaccination activists getting access to vaccination centers.”

In Italy, since 1978, abortion has been permitted during the first 12 weeks, and later if the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life. Access to abortion, however, often causes problems in practice: healthcare workers can refuse to perform the intervention for reasons of conscience, and many people take advantage of this option, roughly half of the doctors practicing in the country, and even almost 90 percent in some regions.

Although Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni campaigned with the slogan “God, home, family” two years ago, she made it clear that she would not change the 1978 regulation, she only wants to ensure that it is respected everywhere that women applying for an abortion must be informed of other possible options also about alternatives.

The birth rate in Italy is one of the lowest in the world, and has been decreasing continuously for 15 years. The conservative forces led by Meloni are campaigning for at least 500,000 children to be born in 2033, according to experts, this would be necessary to prevent the economy from collapsing under the weight of an aging society.

The ruling Italian Brothers party also previously proposed to make it mandatory for women applying for an abortion to listen to the fetus’s heartbeat, but the draft ultimately did not become law. In the fall of 2022, the so-called heart sound law was introduced in Hungary, tying abortion to viewing fetal vital signs. Based on this, Hungarian women applying for an abortion must prove that “the factor indicating the functioning of fetal vital functions was presented to them in a clearly identifiable manner” by their doctor.

An Austrian pro-abortion doctor, Dr. In an interview with Telex at the beginning of April, Christian Fiala said that it is an illusion on the part of the Hungarian government that women who did not want to get pregnant, but it happened anyway, can be persuaded to give birth to an unwanted child with two conversations. He said about the Hungarian heartbeat law, “this is how the government wants to force women to carry as many pregnancies as possible, but this idea comes from the Middle Ages, the Monarchy and fascism. Not only is it unethical, it is also politically stupid”.

In the conversation, the self-determination of people living in a democracy, the abortion pill, governments protecting women, euthanasia and what the opening hours of kindergartens have to do with the number of births were discussed.