Spain and Italy clash over abortion laws

April 18, 2024
By Laura Gozzi, BBC News

Spain and Italy have clashed over a proposal by Italy's ruling right-wing coalition to allow anti-abortion groups into abortion clinics. The lower house of parliament in Rome is set to pass the bill on Thursday.

Spanish Equality Minister Ana Redondo weighed into the debate prompting a spat with Italy's Giorgia Meloni. Allowing the "organised harassment" of women in abortion clinics meant "undermining a right recognised by the law", Ms Redondo declared on X. "It is the strategy of the extreme right: to intimidate in order to row back on rights," she added.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68845011

Italy passes measures to allow anti-abortion activists to enter abortion clinics

Opposition parties say women’s rights dealt blow after package approved by Georgia Meloni’s cabinet

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Tue 16 Apr 2024

Italian opposition parties have said women’s rights in Italy have been dealt a “heavy” blow after parliament passed a measure by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government allowing anti-abortion activists to enter abortion consultation clinics.

The measure forms part of a package of initiatives approved by Meloni’s cabinet that will be funded by the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund, of which Italy is the biggest beneficiary, and was put to the lower house in a confidence vote on Tuesday. The package of measures is expected to comfortably pass in the senate, too.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/16/italy-passes-measures-to-allow-anti-abortion-activists-to-enter-abortion-clinics

Italy’s Prime Minister Meloni Speaks Out on Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage

Mar 1, 2023
Chiara Albanese, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Giorgia Meloni has largely refrained from commenting on divisive social issues since becoming Italy’s most right-wing prime minister since Benito Mussolini some three months ago. But this week she spoke out against abortion, same sex marriage and gender self identification.

The government will help women avoid an abortion by providing financial support so that they do “not miss out on the joy of raising a child,” Meloni, 46, said in an interview published in the latest issue of Grazia magazine, without giving details.

Continued: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/italy-s-prime-minister-meloni-speaks-out-on-abortion-same-sex-marriage-1.1889917

01.03.2023

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Italy’s resurgent right takes on a woman’s right to choose

BY JOANNA GILL, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Jan 9, 2023

NAPLES/ROME – If it was hard enough for Beatrice to get an abortion when she had the law on her side, imagine how other women will cope should Italy’s rising right get its way on reproductive rights.

“What I have been through is very painful, but it is even worse knowing that there are other women out there who are going to go through the same thing,” she said. The 24-year-old law student was in a new relationship when she took a pregnancy test in the summer of 2021 after her suspicions were raised by unusual bouts of nausea.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/09/world/social-issues-world/italy-resurgent-right-abortion-rights/

New right-wing government in Italy threatens access to abortion

Although Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she would not would not change Italy’s abortion laws, women’s rights campaigners fear new restrictions could follow.

Joanna Gill, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Dec 25, 2022

If it was hard enough for Beatrice to get an abortion when she had the law on her side, imagine how other women will cope should Italy’s rising right get its way on reproductive rights.

“What I have been through is very painful, but it is even worse knowing that there are other women out there who are going to go through the same thing.”

Continued: https://scroll.in/article/1040411/new-right-wing-government-in-italy-threatens-access-to-abortion

Italy – Feminists protest against Meloni over abortion rights

By Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it
Nov 27, 2022

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.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/feminists-protest-against-meloni-over-abortion-rights/

27.11.2022

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Italian senator renews anti-abortion foetus rights proposal

Maurizio Gasparri has higher chance of success this time after rightwing coalition’s election victory

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Wed 19 Oct 2022

An Italian senator has submitted a proposal for an amendment to Italy’s civil code that would recognise a foetus as a human being, which if passed into law could enable pregnancy terminations to be classified as murder.

Maurizio Gasparri, a politician with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which is part of the government led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy – a party with neofascist origins – expected to be sworn in next week, unleashed a barrage of criticism from members of the opposition when he presented his “rights of the unborn child” proposal to the senate.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/19/italian-senator-renews-anti-abortion-foetus-rights-proposal

Italy election: Activists raise alarm over abortion rights after Meloni’s win

By Euronews
28/09/2022

As Giorgia Meloni is set to become Italy’s first female prime minister, some activists in the country are concerned about what that could mean for abortion rights.

During her campaign trail, Meloni said that she would "not touch" the abortion law. She added that her party “just wants [people] to know there are other options”.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/27/italian-activists-raise-alarm-over-abortion-rights-after-melonis-win

28.09.2022

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Italians march for abortion rights after far-right election victory

Sep 28, 2022

ROME (AP) — Italians marched through Rome, Milan and other cities Wednesday to protect access to abortion, which many fear will be under threat by a far-right party expected to form the next government after leading in parliamentary elections.

Waving banners reading “My body — My choice” and “Safe for All,” more than 1,000 people marched from Rome’s Esquilino neighborhood, and at least that many from Milan’s Central Station.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/italians-march-for-abortion-rights-after-far-right-election-victory

Human rights and access to abortion are European values, says France’s PM after Italy election

September 26, 2022

PARIS (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the European Union would closely follow the respect of certain human rights and values such as women's access to abortion, as she responded to Italy's election result.

"In Europe, we have certain values and, obviously, we will be vigilant", Borne told RMC Radio and BFM TV.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-prime-minister-says-regarding-italian-election-that-eu-has-certain-values-2022-09-26/

26.09.2022