ROME, May 31, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Italy’s law on in vitro fertilization and embryo research is among the most restrictive in the world. In February 2004, LifeSiteNews.com reported that Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life said that although the law “does not reflect Catholic morality,” its restrictions on the some of the more immoral and dangerous practices were praiseworthy. Naturally, these restrictions came under immediate attack by the extremist pro-abortion wing of the political left.
In January of this year, LifeSiteNews.com reported that a coalition led by the extreme left Radical Party of Italy, had obtained a ruling from the constitutional court to have a national referendum on the law’s restrictions. The Radical Party, among the most blatantly anti-Catholic extremist organizations in Europe, has said that opposition to IVF and the use of embryonic human beings for experimentation, can only come from the Catholic Church’s irrational and “medieval” moral teaching. The referendum is scheduled for June 12-13th.
As it is currently worded, the law restricts artificial means of reproduction to heterosexual couples, bans egg or sperm donation, restricts the number of ova that can be fertilized, bans the freezing of embryos and restricts experimental research on living embryos.
Pro-life advocates were surprised, therefore, when a group of Italian Catholic bishops issued a statement urging Catholics to boycott the vote. Cardinals Ruini, the vicar of the Rome diocese of which the Pope is head, Tettamanzi of Milan and Scola, the Patriarch of Venice, argued in the press that a vote against restrictions on fertility treatments would eliminate all legal restraint on the process; but a vote for the restrictions would support a law that still allows immoral manipulation and destruction of human life.
The bishops’ argument for a boycott appeared to contradict the principle, established by Pope John Paul II, that Catholics can legitimately vote in favour of restrictions on a law that allowed the taking of human life. Many pro-lifers around the world worried that an opportunity to defeat the referendum proposals would be lost if Catholics did not vote to support the restrictions. Closer examination, however, has revealed the bishops’ strategy.
Instead of fighting on the same ground as the Radicals, they have moved to render the vote null and void and thus maintain the law as it is currently worded with restrictions in place. Italian law requires a minimum 50% voter turnout for a referendum to be legal. Without that minimum, whatever the decision, the referendum is rendered null and void and the legislation would remain as it is.
Pope Benedict XVI supported the bishops’ call for a boycott, saying, he thanked them for their “commitment” to “illuminating and motivating the choice of Catholics and of all citizens.”
Angus Reid reports general approval of the referendum’s proposals to allow in vitro fertilization without restrictions and experimental research on living human embryos. 46% of respondents say they will vote “Yes” on all or most of the provisions with 33% remaining undecided. Furthermore, separate polling revealed that media propaganda had heavily influenced public opinion. 48% of respondents said they knew little or nothing at all about the issue, nearly the same number as said they were supportive of the proposals.
That the bishops’ strategy is likely to be successful is evidenced by the fury of the Radicals who have pushed for the referendum. Daniele Capezzone, head of Italy’s Radical Party, called the bishops’ intervention “an unprecedented offensive.”
Implying that the Italian government should take legislative action to restrict Catholic involvement in public life, Capezzone said, “It is of great concern to me personally that a man of the cloth should pose as partisan leader, telling people what to vote or if to vote at all.” Capezzone, implying that Catholics are a threat to the leftist vision of a totally secularized, religion-free state, said, “What’s worse though is the fact that the Italian political system has done nothing to safeguard the dignity of the Republic… it’s one thing for people to express their views freely, quite another when they deliberately meddle with the electoral process.”
The Pope reiterated that the decision to protect human life and dignity was not merely a parochial concern of one religion, still less that it was pitting religion against the interests of human progress. He said, “We are not working for Catholic interests but for the human being, God’s creature.”
The Pope told the bishops that Italians must defend “the sacredness of human life and the promotion of the role of the family in society.”
Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Italian Parliament Passes Restrictive IVF Law
Italy Likely to Gut Pro-Life Elements of IVF Law by Referendum