ABORTION IN ITALY
Hammond, Margo
FROM ROME ABORTION MN ITALY "If men had babies, abortion would be a sacrament," shouted the Italian feminists in the early '70s when they first launched their battle for legalized abortions....
...Thousands of women—and men as well—signed affidavits that they, too, had had an abortion...
...The Christian Democrats—who naturally voted against the bill—did nothing to obstruct its passage...
...The law is rather cumbersome...
...According :nator Edward JO presidential :ording to the Gerald Ford , while Ronald neck...
...Over 100,000 participated...
...A battle has begun for the opponents of the abortion law as well, a battle, according to Italian theologian Rev...
...Although a law instituting the counseling centers mentioned in the abortion bill was passed two years ago, very few are in operation...
...Minors, lacking their parents' permission, will continue to turn to "abortion" doctors paying a high price—sometimes their lives...
...A woman over 18 who is less than 90 days pregnant and who wants to abort must go to a public counseling center, a public health center, or to the doctor of her choice to make her request...
...The Movimento per la Vita which had gathered signatures in parishes throughout the peninsula in support of an anti-abortion law is now threatening to campaign for an abrogation amendment if the Parliament does not "review" their recent decision...
...The alliance with the "missini" put the Christian Democratic government in crisis...
...Despite these obstacles to their cause, however, the advocates of the abortion law believe that it is "the first instrument in the hands of women to stop the plague of clandestine abortions...
...Also in February 1976 the House of Deputies—probably pushed by the fear of the impending referendum— began discussing the abortion law...
...MARGO HAMMOND (Margo Hammond, a frequent contributor, is an American journalist who lives in Rome...
...The Socialists called for anticipated elections and the dissolution of the Parliament postponed the abortion referendum...
...Some members of the laic majority had obviously defected—the abortion issue now was used as a way to try to block the growing collaboration between i its army in forceful attack Erica...
...According to a poll published early this year in a Catholic magazine, // Regno, 55 percent of Italians favor the depenalization of abortion (a figure that includes 33 percent of Christian Democratic voters...
...Commonweal: 421...
...An abrogation referendum, it is generally believed, would merely result in a second defeat for the church after the sound beating it took in the 1974 divorce referendum...
...The referendum was set for May 1976...
...The new abortion law will not, however, totally eliminate abusive abortion practices...
...In June, sympathetic feminists began a nationwide campaign to support the young woman...
...On April 2, however, the Christian Democrats, joined only by the neo-Fascist party (MSI), voted against the second article of the law destroying the Parliamentary compromise...
...In the case of pregnancy—for both adults and minors —which has gone beyond the 90-day limit, abortions can only be performed if the "pregnancy or delivery would represent a grave danger to the life of the woman" or in the case of a deformed fetus...
...The fear of the smaller parties of a DC-PCI entente has been, it seems, overcome by the dramatic turn of events of the past few months...
...After examining the woman (she may be accompanied by the father, if she chooses), the institution may then give her a document which verifies her state of pregnancy and her request to abort...
...The laic forces have a comfortable majority in the House and a smaller, but adequate majority in the Senate...
...To qualify in this way, however, they must file their objection within one month after the bill has been passed...
...Eighty percent favor abortion, according to the poll, when the woman's health is in danger or there is a risk of malformation of the fetus and an impressive 83 percent when the pregnancy represents a danger to the woman's life...
...The elections of June 20, 1976 have drastically altered the Parliamentary equilibrium...
...In addition to this rather complicated procedure, the law contains several other stipulations...
...In Rome, for example, only 14 out of 30 are working...
...The first abortion law was presented to the Italian Parliament in February 1973 by a Socialist Deputy...
...The purpose of the bill is to stop the...
...Even the Vatican, while deploring the law as a legalization of "homicide," does not at this time seem disposed to lead a campaign for its abrogation...
...That same year Gigliola Pierobon, a militant of "Lotta Femminista" was brought to court accused of having an abortion...
...i soon have a much, on the erywhere, but ring, firm and lula wiH work, ws...
...Mass arrests followed including a clamorous incident in January 197S in Florence where 40 women were jailed after a CISA clinic was closed...
...Minors (who, feminists claim, make up a large portion of the clandestine abortions performed every year on the peninsula) must have the authorization of their guardian although the courts may overrule a parent's objection...
...Dalmazio Mongillo, not so much on the judicial front, but the real fight against the causes and the widespread acceptance of abortion...
...Feminists held a series of street demonstrations in support of legalized abortion...
...For the Italian women who have fought for this law, the battle is now "to put it into practice and to manage it...
...increasing number of clandestine abortions in Italy...
...Finally, in a Catholic country where many clinics and hospitals are run by religious or have large Catholic staffs, the practice of conscientious objection promises to be widespread...
...Doctors and sanitary personnel may refuse—unless it's an emergency case—to perform or assist abortions for reasons of conscience...
...In September 1973 the CISA (Italian Center for Sterilization and Abortion), directed by Adele Faccio and Emma Bonino and federated to the Radical Party, began publicly to practice abortions in self-managed centers and organized courses for Italian gynecologists in specialized London clinics...
...Now nearly a decade later, abortion is no longer a crime in Italy...
...In January 1977 an abortion bill easily passed the House, but in July of that year, it was defeated—on a technical vote—in the Senate...
...In February 1976 the Radical Party collected over 700,000 signatures for a referendum aimed at abrogating the law that defined abortion as a crime...
...Women—especially in rural areas—may have difficulty in obtaining the needed authorization for an abortion...
...Without a law, an abortion referendum would have been held in June—a campaign that would have placed a serious strain on the new five-party governmental coalition...
...Even in rcent of those i up to their ter is reported will run for a low and 1980, may not have minists held a rt of legalized February 1976 signatures for w that defined s set for May deputies—proreferendum— ril 2, however, he neo-Fascist icle of the law . The alliance jcratic governlticipated decent postponed drastically alle laic forces and a smaller, January 1977 i, but in July nical vote—in ijority had obwas used as a ation between the Communists (PCI) and the Christian Democrats (DC...
...After seven days, she may go with this document to have a state-paid abortion in a hospital or authorized clinic (abortions cannot represent more than 20 percent of all activities in these clinics...
...Also actively opposing the bill was the Movimento per la Vita, the Italian Right to life group which held prayer vigils outside the Parliament during the voting...
...In Rome alone, according to a recent study, there have been nearly 100,000 such abortions performed each year or in other words 250-300 daily...
...This year, however, the lay majority held together...
...We must rediscover the path of persuasion," said Mongillo...
...This does not even include the number of women who went to London to have an abortion or who obtained an abortion from a "friendly" doctor which would bring up the total to nearly 450 abortions each day...
...These abortions, in addition to often representing a grave danger to the life of the women, were also outrageously expensive (up to 700,000 lire or nearly $1,000...
...She must explain "the circumstances by which the continuation of the pregnancy, the delivery or maternity would represent a grave danger to her physical or mental health because of her state or her economic, social or family conditions or because of the circumstances in which she became pregnant or because of a malformation of the fetus...
...The Radicals have termed the abortion law "bureaucratic, inefficient and humiliating to women...
...The Italian Parliament—where there is for the first time since 1947 a majority not subject to the religious outlook of the Christian Democrats—recently approved an abortion bill that allows women within the first three months of pregnancy to obtain a state-paid abortion...
...Voting against the bill with the Christian Democrats were the MSI and the Radicals...
Vol. 105 • July 1978 • No. 13
