Abortion returns to the spotlight in Italy 46 years after it was legalized

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government wants to allow anti-abortion groups access to women considering ending their pregnancies. That’s reviving tensions around abortion in Italy 46 years after it was legalized in the overwhelmingly Catholic country. Meloni campaigned on a slogan of “God, fatherland and family” but has insisted she won’t roll back the 1978 law legalizing abortion and merely wants to implement it fully. But she has also prioritized encouraging women to have babies to reverse Italy’s demographic crisis. Italy’s birthrate, already one of the lowest in the world, reached a record low last year. The left-wing opposition fears abortion rights are threatened.