The Italian Parliament approved this Tuesday the law that allows and finances the entry of ‘anti-abortion’ associations in family offices, a measure by the far-right Government Giorgia Meloni which has angered the opposition and feminist associations, who consider it a frontal attack on the abortion law.
The Senate has given the green light, with 95 votes in favor, 68 against and one abstention, to the call “PNRR Decree”a broad legislative text with items from the European funds of the Pandemic Recovery Plan in which the controversial initiative is included.
The decree, presented as a motion to the Government, a common strategy in the Italian Parliament to accelerate the approval of laws and prevent the examination of their amendments, since It had received the approval of the Chamber of Deputies last week.
There was an intense debate among the deputies, which was repeated this Tuesday in the Senate, where The opposition Democratic Party (PD) has criticized the inclusion of the measure in favor of anti-abortion associations in the law on European funds.
“We have worked to achieve the Next Generation Eu, but we cannot vote for this decree, which betrays the objectives against gender, generational and territorial inequalities,” said its senator Cecilia D’Elia, who described the amendment as “a bombardment.” and “an attempt to boycott the law” on abortion.
Alessandra Maiorino, senator from the 5 Star Movement, who participated in a protest against the new rule in front of the Senate, described it as “violence perpetrated on women’s skinsacrificed on the altar of the rudest and most retrograde propaganda of an obscurantist government that wants to set the country back half a century.”
What the controversial decree says
The text, presented by deputy Lorenzo Malagola, of Meloni’s ultras Brothers of Italy, says that “the regions will organize consulting services (…) and they will be able to take advantage, without new or greater charges to public accounts, of the involvement of Third Sector subjects with qualified experience in motherhood support“.
Critics believe that this would open the door to ‘anti-abortion’ organizations in clinicscenters of the national health service supporting pregnant women, ultimately attacking “Law 194”, which since 1978 has regulated abortion in Italy.
The measure caused a few days ago a confrontation between Meloni and the Minister of Equality of Spain, Ana Redondowho criticized her on social networks.
“On several occasions I have heard foreign ministers talk about internal Italian issues without knowing the facts. Normally when you ignore an issue you should have the good habit of not giving lessons” Meloni said in Brussels.
Allowing organized harassment against women who want to terminate their pregnancies is undermining a right recognized by law. It is the strategy of the extreme right: to intimidate to reverse rights, to stop equality between women and men. https://t.co/AXW7zoObI0
— Ana Redondo (@_anaredondo_) April 17, 2024
