Feminists protested in Rome against new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling her a fascist and saying her government threatens the right to abortion in the country.
The protest aimed first at decrying the violence perpetrated against women and showing support for Iranian women but turned into denouncing Meloni’s government which protesters claimed threatened the right to abortion.
“Gov. Meloni, get ready to tremble; we are free to fight”, shouted protesters who also held banners with the words “we eat your heart’” and “fascist Meloni, we will make war on you.”
But the government quickly responded by denouncing the threat and blaming the left for the unrest.
“What has happened is worrying because it fuels a climate of hatred and adds to a list of intimidation, threats and vulgarity against the Prime Minister”, said Defence Undersecretary Isabella Rauti.
In Italy, women can request voluntary termination of pregnancy within the first 90 days of gestation for health, economic, social or family reasons. As for the pharmacological method, it is possible to request the necessary pills within nine weeks of gestational age at public outpatient facilities.
The law is clear on the procedure to be followed, but in practice, the reality is that it is difficult for many women to access abortion as doctors can still refuse to administer one on the grounds of conscience or religious belief. In 2016, the Council of Europe criticised Italy for its abortion laws, pointing to doctors’ conscientious objection as one of the main obstacles women in Italy faced when exercising their abortion rights.
Meloni has made it clear on several occasions that she does not intend to abolish the law regulating the right to abortion in Italy.
“I do not intend to abolish law 194 (…) I want to apply law 194 to add a right: if today there are women who find themselves forced to have an abortion, for example, because they have no money to raise that child or because they feel alone, I want to give them a chance to make a different choice, without taking anything away from those who want to choose abortion”, Meloni said in September.
However, Meloni has never addressed the problem of the high number of objecting doctors in hospitals, which limits women’s right to have an abortion.
Brothers of Italy’s electoral programme clearly stated its intention to enforce law 194, incentivise prevention, and set up a fund “to help women who are alone and in financial difficulty to carry a pregnancy to term”.
(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it)
Source: euractiv.com
