Health ministry figures show that the proportion of doctors who are conscientious objectors rose 12 percent in the last decade, while abortions dropped from nearly 140,000 in 2004 to 88,000 in 2015. Some 59.7 percent of Italian hospitals perform abortions.
In the southern region of Molise, there is just one doctor, Michele Mariano, left to perform up to 400 abortions a year on his own.
Abortion has been legal, and covered by national health plans, for nearly 40 years in Italy. When approved back in 1978, the law known as “la 194” was considered progressive. Christian Democracy, one of the leading parties at the time, inserted a clause allowing doctors to declare themselves conscientious objectors by simply submitting a formal request to the health ministry. [...]
Italy has among the lowest birth rates across the EU, with an average of 1.4 children born for every woman of childbearing age, compared to the EU average of 1.55, according to the latest figures published by Eurostat. The number of abortions relative to the population across Europe has been dropping over time. [...]
Agatone called into question the health ministry’s data, arguing the government only measures the number of abortion carried out, not the number of abortions requested.
To discourage the practice, the health ministry recently increased the fine for women getting illegal procedures from €5,000 to €10,000. LAIGA condemned the measure as punishment for women, instead of doctors who refuse to fulfill their medical obligations.
No comments:
Post a Comment