PESCARA. There are 347 voluntary terminations of pregnancy performed at the Pescara Local Health Authority in 2023, according to what was reported by the medical management of the Penne hospital where the surgical method has been used for some time. Numbers that confirm a slight decline compared to previous years, when around five hundred were recorded. An analysis, however, that is partial, because it refers only to abortion which requires surgery in hospital. Since last May it has also been possible to choose the pharmacological method, i.e. the one carried out with the administration of Ru486. In this case, in eight months, there were 250. And so the total rises to 597.
Regardless of individual choices, the local health authority makes it known that the support phase preceding the moment of abortion is never lacking. In recent days, controversy has also broken out in the Pescara area, due to the amendment included in the Pnrr law decree (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), in article 44, signed by Lorenzo Malagola of Fratelli d’Italia. In particular, the amendment provides that the regions, in organizing the services of the clinics, can avail themselves of the involvement of anti-abortion associations.
On the one hand there are those who defend the 194 and on the other those who support maternity. Political exponents of the various parties and representatives of some local associations have raised their voices to assert their reasons.
Beyond the controversy, however, there is data that explains how the path to take for those who choose to terminate a pregnancy has changed in the area. Until a year ago, in Pescara, there was only one alternative, despite the 2020 update circular from the Ministry of Health. Something has changed a year ago, with the possibility of a second solution. «As can be seen from the data in our possession, in the last year we have witnessed a slight decrease in surgical abortions, because women can also opt for pharmacological abortion», underlines the health director of the Pescara Local Health Authority Rossano Di Luzio. «Until recently, in Pescara, this second choice did not exist, so the numbers of traditional pregnancy interruptions were higher. It must be said that the initial procedure between the two methods is similar, because the woman who chooses to have an abortion goes to the clinic and the so-called accompaniment and preparation phase begins there. During the interview with the healthcare professional, the desire to terminate the pregnancy is certified and at that point the woman receives all the necessary information. If the choice falls on pharmacological abortion, we proceed in the district of Pescara Sud. Here a careful clinical evaluation of the patient takes place, before proceeding with the administration of Ru486. A follow-up visit follows and the woman is then followed until the interruption ends.”
According to what the health director reports, the phase of support and accompaniment for women, thanks to the presence of health professionals in the clinics, “is always predominant”.
