{"id":33891,"date":"2024-04-24T01:29:42","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T01:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/24\/italys-new-abortion-law-is-a-lesson-in-how-meloni-governs\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T01:29:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T01:29:43","slug":"italys-new-abortion-law-is-a-lesson-in-how-meloni-governs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/24\/italys-new-abortion-law-is-a-lesson-in-how-meloni-governs\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy\u2019s New Abortion Law Is a Lesson in How Meloni Governs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23italy-abortion-ztcq\/23italy-abortion-ztcq-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Italy\u2019s New Abortion Law Is a Lesson in How Meloni Governs\" title=\"Italy\u2019s New Abortion Law Is a Lesson in How Meloni Governs\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At a family counseling center in Verbania, a leafy lakefront town in northern Italy, employees not only explain to women the rules for getting abortions, they have also distributed leaflets supplied by a local anti-abortion group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAre you pregnant?\u201d reads the flier from the \u201cCenter for Assistance to Life\u201d in the town. If you think the only option is abortion, it tells women considering the procedure: \u201cContact us! We can talk and together it will be different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Soon, there may be more than just fliers in this and similar centers. A measure introduced by the right-wing party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and passed by the Parliament on Tuesday potentially emboldens anti-abortion groups to advocate inside family counseling centers, reminds her conservative supporters that she is one of them and has driven the liberal opposition crazy \u2014 all without actually changing much.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The measure is essentially a restatement of a part of Italy\u2019s 1978 abortion law, which emphasized prevention even as it legalized abortion. To that end, the law allowed the family counseling centers to make use of volunteer associations \u201cprotecting motherhood\u201d to help women avoid terminating their pregnancies because of economic, social or family hardships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the new legislation \u2014 and the changes it could inspire \u2014 again shows Ms. Meloni\u2019s mastery of political messaging. The first Italian prime minister with roots in parties born from the ashes of Fascism, she has assured a once skeptical foreign-policy establishment that she is a trustworthy, more-or-less mainstream partner willing to play nice in Brussels and act as a solid U.S. ally against Russian aggression.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But political analysts say that the domestic agenda she has pursued since coming to power 18 months ago still very much fits her longstanding beliefs \u2014 and pleases her traditional base \u2014 without yet making dramatic changes that could set back her international image.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe\u2019s subtle,\u201d said Gianfranco Pasquino, professor emeritus of political science at Bologna University, adding that Ms. Meloni was seeking to shift Italian and European sensibilities to the right without necessarily changing laws. \u201cShe\u2019s an excellent politician.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beyond the abortion measure, Ms. Meloni is pursuing a change to Italy\u2019s Constitution that would allow citizens to vote directly for the prime minister. She says it would make Italian governments more stable, something center-left parties have also sought; her critics say it would eliminate checks and balances and create opportunities for a potential future autocrat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her party has proposed making it a criminal offense for Italians to get around their country\u2019s ban on surrogacy by finding surrogates in nations that allow the practice, and her government has passed anti-immigration measures and proposed a cap on non-Italian students in classrooms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And yet, Ms. Meloni has proved difficult to pigeonhole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, the public broadcaster RAI, which she has packed in the Italian tradition with political allies, was accused of censoring an author who planned to read an antifascist monologue on air that accused the Meloni government of attempting to rewrite history. Ms. Meloni disputed the allegation of censorship, arguing that the writer had simply asked for too much money. Then, in a move that confounded her critics, she published the whole monologue on her social media feed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the abortion issue, Ms. Meloni\u2019s Brothers of Italy party includes politicians who have proposed giving legal rights to embryos. But here, too, she has taken a different tack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an interview with The New York Times shortly before her election in 2022, Ms. Meloni said she had a \u201cvery deep approach\u201d to the issue as a result of her mother&#8217;s nearly aborting her after her father ran out on the family. She said she had no intention of overturning abortion rights but wanted to ensure that women considering having abortions had another option. The 1978 law stipulates that women be given \u201call necessary help\u201d to avoid the procedure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI want to apply it all,\u201d Ms. Meloni said, referring to the original law. \u201cThere is a part about the abortion law which is about prevention. That was never done.\u201d She added that her hope was to do \u201cwhatever I can do to help a woman who thinks abortion is the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even some of those who share her goals are dubious about the value of the legislation passed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy impression is that it won\u2019t do much,\u201d said Laura Cristofari, who was surrounded by bassinets, baby carriages and toys in the office of the \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cavverbania.it\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Assistance to Life<\/a>\u201d in Verbania. Her group, she said, already had a space inside the local hospital where abortions were performed, in which the activists could meet with women who were contemplating the procedure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jacopo Coghe, the president of \u201cPro-Life and Family,\u201d a vocal anti-abortion organization, said that while he was happy the government had reiterated the right of anti-abortion groups to be part of discussions with women contemplating abortion, his group did not plan to enter counseling centers. He said he preferred to focus on changing policy, such as campaigning for a requirement that a woman seeking an abortion hear the fetus\u2019s heartbeat before proceeding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some campaigners for abortion rights also say the law will not do much. Mirella Parachini, a gynecologist and longstanding activist for abortion rights, said that the measure was a \u201cproclamation that changes nothing,\u201d adding that it was merely \u201cwaving an ideological flag.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But other supporters of abortion rights have protested outside the Parliament, and said they feared the measure would embolden anti-abortion activists to be more assertive in their approach to women seeking abortions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beatrice Lorenzin, a former health minister who is now a senator in the opposition Democratic Party, said that because of Italy\u2019s regional health system, she was unsure if anti-abortion groups had collaborated with family counseling centers in the past. She said the measure did little to clear up the protocol, including which groups could go in, who chose the groups and what they could do once inside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Abortion-rights activists also said there were already many practical impediments to abortion in Italy, which is legal within 90 days of pregnancy, or later for women in mental or physical danger or in cases of serious fetal pathologies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Italian doctors can conscientiously object to the procedure, and many do. More than 60 percent of gynecologists \u2014 according to the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.epicentro.iss.it\/ivg\/epidemiologia\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">National Institute of Health<\/a> \u2014 are conscientious objectors. In some southern regions, the numbers are even higher, according to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.associazionelucacoscioni.it\/notizie\/comunicati\/135292\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">one study<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An abortion pill has been available to women for the past four years, but in the majority of regions it is not easily accessible as outpatient treatment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">(Asked in the 2022 interview with The Times if she was committed to keeping abortion safe and legal, Ms. Meloni said it was \u201calready accessible and safe and legal.\u201d When asked about the high level of conscientious objection, she said: \u201cLook, that\u2019s another fake news. I think if a doctor doesn\u2019t want to do that, he is free not to do that. But there is no woman in Italy who wanted to abort and didn\u2019t find somebody to do that.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The new measure, which was slipped into a major Covid relief spending bill as a rider, has nevertheless attracted attention beyond Italy. Ana Redondo, the minister of equality in Spain, one of Europe\u2019s most progressive governments, called it shameful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt is the strategy of the ultraright: to intimidate in order to reverse rights, to stop equality between women and men,\u201d she wrote on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Meloni, speaking to the national wire agency ANSA, retorted: \u201cSeveral times I have listened to foreign ministers talking about Italian domestic issues without knowing the facts. Normally when one is ignorant about an issue, one should at least have the good sense not to give lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even some opponents of abortion suggested that with European Parliament elections coming up in June, the new Italian law had less to do with women\u2019s rights than with electoral politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo get votes, they put forward proposals that have no heads or tails,\u201d said Renata Natili Micheli, president of a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cifnazionale.it\/chi-siamo\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Catholic women\u2019s association<\/a>. The measure, she said, would simply ignite an \u201cideological tinderbox.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/23\/world\/europe\/italy-abortion-law-meloni.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a family counseling center in Verbania, a leafy lakefront town in northern Italy, employees not only explain to women the rules for getting abortions, they have also distributed leaflets supplied by a local anti-abortion group. \u201cAre you pregnant?\u201d reads the flier from the \u201cCenter for Assistance to Life\u201d in the town. If you think [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23italy-abortion-ztcq\/23italy-abortion-ztcq-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[304,37416,34540,3444,35930,37415],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33893,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33891\/revisions\/33893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}