Italian far-right leader Matteo Salvini unleashed outrage on Monday (February 17th) after denouncing the frequent use of foreign women in medical emergencies for abortions due to a “Uncivilized lifestyle”.
The voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion, up to the third month) was legalized in 1978 in Italy. Above the third month, abortion remains possible for limited therapeutic reasons. But it is a difficult procedure to perform because 70% of gynecologists refuse to practice it on behalf of the“Conscientious objection”.
“We have had reports that some women, who are not from Rome or Milan, went to the emergency room in Milan for the sixth time for a termination of pregnancy”said Matteo Salvini, who says he relies on the testimony of nurses in the emergency room. “It is not my job, nor that of the state, to teach moral or ethical lessons to anyone, it is right that women choose for themselves and for their lives. But one cannot consider emergencies as the solution to an uncivilized way of life ”launched the head of the sovereignists at a public meeting in Rome.
And to continue:
“Some people took the emergency room for a vending machine without paying a cent. It’s time to say stop to the thousands of non-Italian citizens camping in the emergency room. The third time you show up, you pay. “
The medical world denies
These remarks sparked an outcry in the political class, the leader of the Democratic Party (center left, in power), Nicola Zingaretti, denouncing “Insults, extravagant theories and random statistics” by M. Salvini. “Fortunately, in the Italian emergency services, we don’t listen to his provocations. We don’t touch women. We don’t touch the Italian health service ”added Mr. Zingaretti.
The medical world also reacted, questioning the situation described by Matteo Salvini. “Abortion is not done in Italy in the emergency services, it seems strange, if not impossible, unless there is a pathology, spontaneous abortion, which is rare”, said Pina Onotri, secretary general of the Italian Doctors’ Union SMI.
For Dr. Gisella Giampa, gynecologist at the Sandro Pertini Hospital in Rome, Mr. Salvini “Generalize from rare cases”. “I have been practicing emergency gynecology for a long time and I can say that the scenario he evokes almost never happens”, she said, adding that abortion in Italy is part of a very specific course of care.
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