A group of anti-abortion organisations in Italy has collected 106,000 signatures, double the minimum required in a referendum, to change the country's law on abortion.
ADVERTISEMENTAn Italian anti-abortion group with ties to the United States has collected more than 100,000 signatures in an attempt to force women seeking abortions to listen to the so-called ‘foetal heartbeat’ before going ahead with the procedure.
The group, called Pro-Vita e Famiglia ("Pro-Life and Family"), is hoping to change Italy’s law on abortion to introduce two extra steps before patients can receive the treatment. Under the group’s demands, doctors offering an abortion should first have their patient see the foetus and then have them hear its heartbeat.
The proposal to change the law, supported by 50 different groups, was signed by about 106,000 people and was delivered to the Italian parliament last week. For a referendum to be considered by lawmakers in Italy, there’s a minimum requirement of 50,000 signatures.
Under a law introduced in 1978, Italy allows women to undergo an abortion within the first 90 days of pregnancy. After 90 days, the procedure is only granted when the pregnancy represents a risk to the life of the patient or if there are congenital malformations in the foetus.
Scientifically, in the initial phase of a pregnancy - when Italy allows for an abortion - the foetus has no heartbeat. The sound that is often mistaken for a heartbeat is produced by the ultrasound monitor machine used to observe the state of a pregnancy. The American College for Obstetricians and Gynecologists, ACOG, has repeatedly stated that the term “foetal heartbeat” is medically and scientifically inaccurate.
An international push for abortion restrictions
Despite the fact that the right to access abortion is relatively recent in Italy, and fiercely protected by women’s rights groups, the issue has become increasingly contentious in recent years - especially as banning or limiting abortions has grown to be the target of an international, well-funded network which has its biggest presence in the US.
For years, conservative, Christian groups in the US have lobbied to restrict access to abortion, with activists famously gathering outside Planned Parenthood centres to try to intercept women seeking the procedure. In June last year, the US Supreme Court overthrew Roe v. Wade, the landmark legislation granting access to abortion on a federal level, which in turn allowed individual states to pass near-total bans on abortions and stricter legislation.
Several states, including Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina and Texas, have passed laws which forbid abortions after detection of the so-called “foetal heartbeat” at about six weeks into the pregnancy.
The reach of these American anti-abortion groups have now extended beyond the US, with the organisation Heartbeat International counting 60 branches all over the world - including in Italy. Heartbeat International is the biggest anti-abortion organisation in the US, and it’s considered to have played a significant role in pushing for limits to the existing abortion law in several US states.
Movimento per la Vita (“Movement for Life”), the biggest anti-abortion organisation in Italy, is affiliated with Heartbeat International and has received a total of $99,810 (€92,800) from it in funding for training, projects, and support since 2014.
Movimiento's regional branches in Piedmont, and in the cities of Venice Mestre and La Spezia supported the petition.
There’s another example that anti-abortion groups in Italy are looking at: Hungary, where in September 2022 the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban introduced a new law forcing those seeking an abortion to listen to the “foetal heartbeat.” It was the first change to abortion laws in the country since 1992.
Will the proposal make it into Italy’s law?
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has long proclaimed herself to be strongly in favour of growing the country’s sluggish birth rate and the traditional family, to the point that many were worried about the future of abortion after her election.
Meloni, leader of the far-right party Brothers of Italy which is part of the current coalition in power, has also long been an ally of Orban, with whom she shares the anti-LGTBQ+, pro-traditional family stances at the heart of her political manifesto.
And yet, the Italian leader might not get behind Pro Vita's proposed changes to the low.
Meloni, who many feared would bring back fascism to Italy, has nurtured a more moderate image since winning the election, and has promised “not to touch” Italy’s existing abortion laws.
While Meloni has her reasons not to pass a “heartbeat bill” in Italy, it’s also unlikely that the law proposal will make it through the country’s two chambers - something that has happened only 3 times since 1979, despite a total of 260 law proposals being passed over to the Parliament.
