The movement against abortion and euthanasia marched in Rome to demonstrate against Law 194. In Italy there is a heated debate about abortion.
Thousands of people marched through the streets of downtown Roma on Saturday to demonstrate against abortion and euthanasia laws. According to the capital’s police headquarters there were five thousand, the organizers speak of thirty thousand present.
The demonstration was organized by the ‘Pro Vita & Famiglia’ association, an association that “defends the right to life from conception to natural death, promotes the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman,” according to their website.
“We know that there are those who consider us, who are against this law, troglodytes, backward, but we are against Law 194, against abortion, we are in favor of life“said Marco Andreoni, one of the participants in the demonstration.
The clash between the Meloni government and the opposition over Law 194
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who campaigned under the slogan “God, country and family,” has prioritized encouraging women to have children to reverse Italy’s demographic crisis. Abortion has been legal since 1978 and Meloni has insisted that he has no intention of withdrawing the lawbut only to fully implement it.
The majority forces recently approved a law that allows anti-abortion groups to have access to women who are considering abortion in the public health centers where they seek advice.
For right-wingers, the amendment simply fulfills the original intent of the 1978 law that legalized abortion, which included provisions to discourage the procedure and support motherhood. For the opposition, the decision restricts the right to abortion that opponents had warned would follow Meloni’s electoral victory in 2022.
Some divisions have also emerged over the wording of the final declaration of the recent G7 summitwith disagreement over the inclusion of a reference to abortion.
The final statement, issued on June 14, omitted the word “abortion” but referred to the need to promote “reproductive health and rights”. On that occasion, Meloni explained that there had already been an agreement on abortion at the previous G7 summit, so it was not necessary to add the reference again.
