An Italian priest compared abortions to brutal mafia killings and condemned lawmakers facilitating abortions, prompting some fiery reactions from Italian legislators.
“Who has more innocent deaths on their conscience, Totò Riina or Emma Bonino?” the priest said, referring to renowned mafia boss Riina and lawmaker Bonino who is known for campaigning inn favor of abortion, according to The Local.
“Morally, there’s no difference” between the two, the priest added.
Bonino, who was formerly Italy’s foreign minister, promotes sexual freedom, abortion and divorce and was considered a favorite in Italy’s 2015 presidential elections until she became sick with lung cancer. Mafia boss Riina – also known as “The Beast” – died Friday after being jailed and charged with 26 life sentences for ordering roughly 150 murders, according to the report.
Abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy has been legal in Italy since 1978, but many lawmakers have been campaigning to make the practice more common as well as to extend abortion provision to the second and third trimesters.
Regional health authorities passed a 2017 measure allowing family planning clinics to offer abortion pills to women in an effort to increase abortion access. “The aim is to make access to the Law 194 [which regulates abortion] less burdensome for women,” Lazio Department for Health and Social Policy director, Vincenzo Panella told La Repubblica.
There were roughly 16.23 abortions for every 1,000 Italian women in 1978 following the legalizing of abortion and approximately 16.25 abortions per every 1,000 women in 2014, according to 2017 Italy abortion data.
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