Venice. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci should state what he will do to "ensure the effective implementation of voluntary termination of pregnancy in every hospital facility, given that Law 194 of 1978 requires the Regional Health Service to ensure these procedures are performed in every case."
This is what Luana Zanella, MP and group leader of Avs, is asking with a question filed yesterday in the Chamber that starts from the agreement between the Camposampiero hospital in Padua and the Pro Vita Movement for information activities in response to a specific request from the woman concerned; the Pro Vita Movement will also be able to insert information material on the hospital's noticeboards.
Zanella recalls, however, that the Pro Vita Movement "is known for its anti-abortion positions and the Ulss 6 Euganea with an agreement dated December 23, 2024 has undertaken to inform, through its employees, of the support activities for pregnant women, women giving birth or who have practiced voluntary termination of pregnancy, of the association Movimento per la Vita".
All this in a context, that of Padua, where in Ulss 6 56,52% of gynecologists are conscientious objectors and the figure rises to 73,08% in the University Hospital of Padua. Instead, the counseling centers from 65 in 2017 have dropped to 44 in 2023. But the law provides for one counseling center for every 20.000 inhabitants, "while Veneto is one of the three regions with the lowest presence of family counseling centers for , highlights Zanella. In short, he argues, corrections are needed.
“Also taking into account the serious shortage of specialized personnel, the further choice of introducing a unilateral source of information, such as that coming from the Pro Vita Movement, to the detriment of that which can be provided by the public counseling center, risks creating a context that, rather than accompanying women in their choices and life paths, tends to exclude the full implementation of law 194 of 1978, activating anti-abortion propaganda within hospitals and thus undermining the principles of law 194 of 1978”, states Zanella in the question seen by 'Dire'.
Hence the pressure on the minister to take action "in relation to initiatives that do not appear to favor the assumption of a free choice by women also with respect to their own health, and that seem to be part of a path that essentially tends to hinder the complete implementation of law 194 of 1978, with the risk of undermining women's health".
Schillaci should also commit "to ensuring that the legal provision that provides for the establishment of a clinic for every 20.000 inhabitants in the Veneto Region, as well as throughout the country, is fully implemented, as well as to ensure an adequate presence of trained personnel and non-objecting doctors in hospitals", concludes Zanella.
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