Politico: Italy’s politics gives new life to anti-abortion campaign

However, according to the latest health ministry figures, over 70 percent of gynecologists refuse to carry out the procedure on moral or religious grounds, declaring themselves “conscientious objectors.” That percentage rises to as high as 90 percent in some regions, especially in the more conservative south.

In October, Verona became the first Italian city to declare itself officially “pro-life.” City councillors approved a motion, put forward by the League’s member of the council Alberto Zelger, which includes public funding for Catholic and anti-abortion associations, and the launch of a regional project to encourage pregnant women to give unplanned babies up for adoption. [...]

The League’s coalition partners, the 5Stars, do not share its views on abortion: Undersecretary of State Mattia Fantinati called Verona’s move “medieval.” [...]

Bonino agrees with abortion rights activists on the need to fight back against organized conscientious objection. Because of the prominent role played by the Catholic Church in Italian hospitals and clinics, doctors who are prepared to perform abortions are often marginalized. According to the Council of Europe – which has slammed Italy twice in recent years over limited abortion access — doctors face “various types of direct and indirect labor disadvantages” if they perform abortions.

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The Guardian: Emma Bonino: Italy's pro-Europe, pro-immigrant conscience

These days, the former foreign minister, activist and candidate for parliament, is waging an equally difficult battle in support of migrants and in defence of Europe, two ideas that seem radical in today’s bitter political environment.  [...]

While she is not realistically hoping to win next Sunday’s national election, if Bonino and her party – More Europe – do well, she will win 3% of the highly fractured Italian vote, a result that would give her control of her own parliamentary group. It would also grant her a fair amount of influence in the event that the election ends, as many expect, with the creation of a grand coalition government between the centre right and centre left parties headed by two former prime ministers, Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Renzi. [...]

She has been thinking about the “banality of evil”, the term coined by Hannah Arendt, the political theorist who examined the rise of Nazism, after she saw a viral video of an elderly Italian woman harassing a black man on a bus while other passengers looked on. [...]

She is convinced that Europe’s demographic challenges and low birthrates will, eventually, give European capitals a wake-up call about their need to welcome immigrants.

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