MEPs want activists banned from abortion centers after Italy allows them through controversial law

MEPs want activists banned from abortion centers after Italy allows them through controversial law | Abroad

Dozens of MEPs are calling on Italy to refrain from allowing anti-abortion activists into abortion consultation centers. Women who want an abortion are in danger of being intimidated, parliamentarians wrote to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni’s radical right-wing government decided earlier this week to give activists access to family planning centers, where women have to go for an abortion. It might help women rethink their decision.

This “opens the door to intimidation of women and the restriction of their rights,” Dutch MEP Caroline Nagtegaal and 67 supporters wrote to Meloni. “Women will be exposed to activists trying to influence an incredibly difficult decision.”

The MEPs also criticize the fact that the government in Rome linked the policy change to Italy’s use of the European corona recovery fund.

The right to abortion in Italy is under pressure, according to proponents. More than 60 percent of gynecologists do not want to perform abortions, recent research showed.

“What do you mean, State, what do you mean, God? I decide about my body,” reads a pancarte of a pro-choice demonstrator in front of the Italian Senate in Rome. (22/04/24) © AP

Poland

The Polish parliament has now taken a first step towards relaxing the country’s strict abortion legislation. Four bills on this matter have been forwarded by the representatives to a special committee for analysis. Opponents had unsuccessfully filed motions to block the reforms.

The proposals make it possible to unconditionally allow an abortion in the first twelve weeks of a pregnancy. It should also be possible to terminate a pregnancy if the fetus shows abnormalities, which was allowed until a decision by a constitutional court in 2020.

The current abortion legislation in Poland is among the strictest in all of Europe. An almost complete ban has been in place since 2021. A pregnancy can only be terminated in the event of rape, incest or danger to the health or life of the woman. Activists say that an abortion is often difficult to arrange in practice, even if a pregnant woman meets the requirements.