China, Texas, San Marino, the Pope criticized by women. Eternal abortion disputed theme
The Pope reiterates that abortion is “a very ugly habit, a murder”. Poland, Texas and the China are pressing on the right of women to have an abortion. While in San Marino, a republic with a strong Catholic tradition, a referendum with 77.28% of the votes in favor makes the voluntary termination of pregnancy legal. The issue of abortion in recent months has returned to be particularly contentious. In a climate in which even Italy’s numbers on pregnancy loss make us reflect. In 2020, according to the data of the Ministry of Health contained in the new Report to Parliament on the state of implementation of law 194 – the law of 22 May 1978, n. 194 which decriminalized and regulated the procedures for accessing abortion – there have been less than 68 thousand operations, even if the figure is in comparison with 2018. According to the same data, 67% of Italian gynecologists remain objector, even if the figure is in comparison with 2018. because the report of the Ministry of Health pointed out that abortions have been continuous since 1983.
The Pope’s words
“We are victims of a throwaway culture … The throwing away of children we don’t want to receive and with that abortion law I send them back to the sender. Today this has become a normal way, a very bad habit, it is a murder ”. The words of Pope Francis on voluntary termination of pregnancy have usually been harsh. “Offensive words towards women”: this is the comment made to Huffpost by journalist and historian Lucetta Scaraffia, director for seven years of the women’s monthly of the Pope’s newspaper. “Pope Francis used offensive language towards women, as if aborting it was a walk. To say that for women to perform this act is a habit is really offensive towards them, both towards their physical pain and towards their psychic pain, and it is horrendous ”the professor explains to Huffpost. According to Scaraffia, the ecclesiastical certification of the Vatican women and in this way sided with the political parties who want to punish them. “I think the Pope has spoken again on this issue because he will do something that will please the political parties on the left instead. The Pope usually tends to utter phrases that he likes on the right and then on the left. What I don’t appreciate is that you use women as a tool for a political position and above all demean them with language ”comments Scaraffia. The historian like the Vatican, not listening to women, is willing to emphasize dictatorships. “This is what happened in Poland, as well as in Latin America. And the pope should know this well ”they conclude.
A disputed topic between countries: the squeeze on abortions
On abortion, particularly in recent months, there have been strong disputes between countries. On the one hand those who have made heavy on this right. On the other hand, those who have chosen, after years of closure, to propose an opening. The topic has returned to the center of current events, even if in short, as the historian Scaraffia points out, “it has always caused strong conflicts in history”. “Abortion has always been a political tool of the states, which wanted to follow their interests. Women were just a tool for attaching to the latter. An example of this is the first anti-abortion law in the state promulgated by Napoleon, because at that time he needed so many soldiers and therefore punished women who aborted. When the punishment against abortion was abolished in Italy, it happened because the armies no longer needed soldiers ”observes Scaraffia.
It is news yesterday that China has decided to reduce the number of abortions performed not for “therapeutic purposes”. In reality, the government’s move is not too surprising: it is part of the new lines which, according to Beijing, aim to improve “women’s reproductive health” and which are part of the policies to encourage families to have more children. The package of measures came about amid fears over the decline in the national birth rate, which has continued since 2011. It is not the first time that China has taken measures against voluntary termination of pregnancy. In 2018, Jiangxi Province promulgated guidelines that established that women who have been pregnant for more than 14 weeks must have received the approval of three medical professionals who can confirm that abortion was necessary from the point of view of abortion. medical view. The health authorities also from 2018 sick a bad propaganda against the victims in voluntary pregnancies the government are “harmful to women” and “risk infertility stress”. “In China in recent years women were forced to abort by violence, but now they are forcing them not to have an abortion. It has everything to do with politics. They are laws against women and there is no freedom ”comments Scaraffia.
China is only the latest country to have granted the right to abortion against it. In January 2021 the Polish government published and simultaneously entered into force with the force of law the sentence of the Constitutional Court which prohibits abortion, except in the case of incest, rape or danger to the life of the mother. The termination of pregnancy is also illegal in the case of serious and lethal malformations of the fetus and health problems such as to imply the inevitable postpartum death of the newborn. In Texas, a new abortion law approved by the Republicans this will find voluntary termination if you can hear the fetus beat, that is, around six weeks of pregnancy. That is when most women know they are pregnant. There Texan law, unlike the Polish one, prohibits abortion even in the case of rape and incest. It also authorizes private citizens to report abortion knowledge, to grant of which they are considered to be considered a case. And in fact, a doctor who claimed to have practiced an abortion in new of the law happened to be denounced by two private citizens. In recent days, the law in Texas has been tightened even further. In fact, Governor Greg Abbott has introduced another new law concerning drugs that induce abortion. The new rules, which will come into force in December, restrict the window in which doctors and clinics in the country can administer these medicines from 10 weeks to 7. But there are many countries in the United States that have passed laws or amendments in recent years that limit the right to abortion. Among them Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia and then Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana. Mississippi has imposed a ban on almost all abortions from the 15th week. The case will be presented by the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, next December 1, in what could be a historic sentence for the country and for the whole United States.
The countries that instead declared opening
To understand how controversial and divisive the issue of the right to abortion is, just think that Joe Biden’s administration has decided to sue Texas for the abortion law approved in Texas. The central administration’s justice department stressed that the law “illegally interferes with federal assumptions” and is “unconstitutional”. The truth is that at the same time that many countries declare their closure from the voluntary termination of pregnancy, others, on the other hand, also with a strong Catholic tradition, are opening up to this right. This is the case of San Marino, where a few days ago a historic referendum established the decriminalization of abortion. The yes won with 77.28% of the votes against 22.72%. A historic result for the Republic of San Marino, which, 43 years after Italian law, admits abortion. An important result above all because San Marino remains a state with a strongly Catholic tradition. It is in fact a confessional Catholic state which in the political and social tradition is defined as founded by the Saint Marino, in fact, in the year 301. Here abortion, until now, was a crime punishable with imprisonment for up to 6 years. Now, with the victory of the yes, the Congress of State called will be to draft a bill within six months aimed at regulating the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the territory of the Republic. “In the Referendum, the vote of the new generations counted a lot, they have a different mentality than before and they understood that legally prohibiting abortion is not the correct way to ensure that it is less practiced” says Scaraffia.
The same road in San Marino was also followed in September by Mexico, where a ruling by the Supreme Court considered historic opened the way towards the full decriminalization of abortion. The Supreme Court unanimously approved the application of the law requirements for voluntary termination that had previously followed in 4 of the 32 states. Now all states comply with this ruling. The decision represents a turning point in a deeply Catholic country, in Texas. Previously, in the country, for a woman who voluntarily performed her abortion or for the person who had her abortion with her consent, there were between one and three years in prison. In recent days, the supreme court has also eliminated a part of the country’s health law that allowed medical personnel to refuse to experience abortions for reasons of conscientious objection.
And then there is Spain, where Pedro Sánchez’s government has announced that a project to reform the abortion law will be ready by December that aims to regulate conscientious objection in public health. According to the Minister of Equality Irene Montero “in Spain conscientious objection is the main obstacle to guaranteeing the right to abortion and therefore must be reformed”. The government also wants to eliminate the need for parental consent for girls aged 16 and 17, as decided by the Popolari in 2015.
The situation in Italy
In Italy the number of abortions continues to decrease. Voluntary interruptions of pregnancy in 2019 were 73,207, -4.1% compared to 2018. The provisional figure for 2020 is instead 67,638 interruptions, (-7.6% compared to 2019).
The abortion rate confirms the downward trend: it is equal to 5.8 per 1,000 in 2019 (-2.7% on 2018) and equal to 5.5 as a preliminary value in 2020. The Italian figure is among the lowest. The report shows that in 2019 the number of information has decreased in all geographical areas and in all age groups compared to 2018, except between 35 and 39 years. The tendency to resort to abortion in our country is in abortion rates also present among Italian citizens, even if it is like being a population with a higher Italian rate: for all age groups they are 2- 3 times.
The number of abortions varies by region. The highest percentage decreases were recorded in Molise, Umbria, Marche, Calabria and Lazio. While in Valle d’Aosta and Basilicata there was an increase in interventions and abortion rates. In Molise, according to the ministry’s data, only 1.5 percent of the subsequent further is done with the use of drugs, while in Piedmont it reaches 47.6%. The number of objecting doctors also varies from region to region. In general, according to the data, 67% of Italian gynecologists remain objector, even if the figure is in respect of 2018. On gynecologists, however, peaks of 85.8% are reached, in Sicily, and among non-staff doctor reaches 90% in Molise.