Abortion in Italy Is Legal but Sometimes Difficult to Obtain

Abortion in Italy Is Legal but Sometimes Difficult to Obtain
We visited the country to find out why.
Lucia Benavides
Sep 12, 2017

Valentina Milluzzo was five months pregnant when she died in a Sicilian hospital in October after her family claimed her doctor refused to perform an abortion that could have potentially saved her life.

Milluzzo, 32, was carrying twins and was first hospitalized in Catania after complications with her pregnancy. According to The Guardian, she gave birth to a stillborn baby and then became ill. Her family claims her doctor refused to remove the other fetus because he objected to abortions and the second fetus still had a "viable heartbeat." Milluzzo died soon after of septic shock. (The hospital has disputed the family's account, saying that though all of the doctors at the hospital were "conscientious objectors" to abortion, "other specialists could technically have been called in if required," according to The Guardian.) Her case is one of many highlighting the struggle to access abortion in Italy.

Continued at source: Teen Vogue: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/abortion-in-italy-is-legal-but-sometimes-difficult-to-obtain