Politics
Thursday March 30, 2006
Abortion Key Issue in Italian Election
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Terry Vanderheyden
ROME, March 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For the first time in 25 years, Italian politicians have been campaigning for an election with abortion as a key issue.
According to a BBC report, some women are complaining that abortions are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain in the largely Catholic country. One woman told the BBC she had to fly to Spain for a late-term abortion because 10 doctors had turned her down.
A clinic in Bergamo in the Lombardy region even allows a pro-life group to counsel mothers considering abortion. So far in the last five years they say they have saved 25 children. One doctor working at the women’s health centre there told the BBC he has been marginalized because he commits abortions. “I have already been completely marginalised within the unit and now only carry out menial tasks,” he said. His real name was withheld. “The only time I’m allowed into the operating theatre is to carry out abortions.”
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a pro-lifer, and his centre-right coalition face Romano Prodi’s centre-left coalition on April 9 and 10. One top minister in Berlusconi’s parliament, Rocco Buttiglione, was instrumental in helping Italian prelate, Cardinal Ruini, to boycott an abortion referendum last year.
“We are at a turning point, which is why we won the boycott last year,” said Buttiglione. “Should children be born out of the love between a man and a woman or should we make them into a commodity? The answer [to the latter is] clearly ‘no.’ There is an important change in the mood of the country.”
Pope Benedict XVI commented on the election meanwhile, saying the position of the church on the issues of abortion and same-sex “marriage,” is “non-negotiable.”
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal George Denounces "New Ways Ministry" as Pseudo-Catholic Organization
- “Bogus Compassion” is Killing Children and Corrupting Society: Belgian Philosopher
- Irony: 19-Child Duggar Family Renting Former Home of Local Planned Parenthood Leader
- Document Reveals Inconsistencies in ND's Jenkins Claims on ND88
- New Country Music Star Born as Pro-Life Ballad Climbs the Charts
- Future of Pontifical Academy for Life at Stake as Members Meet in Closed Door Session
- Rally Planned in Defence of Canadian Pro-Life Ad
- Commentary on February 8 News
- U.K.’s Conservative Leader Pledges Full Support to Gay Agenda
- B.C. Civil Liberties Association Goes to Bat for Pro-Life Student Club
- Police Refuse to Release Federal "Threat Assessment" on Wis. Pro-Lifers
- Canadian Human Rights Commission Appeals Ruling against Hate Messages Statute
- Homosexual Activist Keith Norton Dies at 69
- Malta Celebrates 32nd Pro-Life Day
- My Vote for Best Pro-life Super Bowl Ad: Google’s Parisian Love Story
- Pope: Family Necessary for Child Development
- Letters to the Editor
Most Read this Week
- Veterans, Former Army Legal Chief Defend “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- Planned Parenthood President Lands Spot on Ford Foundation Board
- Rabbis Warn against 'Disaster' of Open Homosexuality in the Military
- Football Pros Give Support to Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad
- Clash of the Abortion Titans: Planned Parenthood Launches 'Pro-Choice' Football Ad
- Canadian Station Pulls Pro-Life Ad – Too “Graphic”
- Hijacking the Brain — How Pornography Works
- Group Exposes Media "Fraud" at March for Life
- U.S. Sisters in Crisis after Embracing “Secular Culture”: Vatican Cardinal
- NYT: Rampant Polygamy in Gay 'Marriage' May Benefit Institution
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.