“Molise, also regarding the national government’s attempt to question the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy, cannot stand by and watch. Indeed, precisely in the region with the highest rate of anti-abortion doctors and health workers, it must continue to invest in family counseling centers, protecting women’s rights in a context of freedom, information, autonomy and secularism”. This was stated by councilor Micaela Fanelli, first signatory of the motion to protect law 194/19978, deposited in the regional council together with colleagues from the Democratic Party Alessandra Salvatore and Vittorino Facciolla.
An “act of civility” in defense of the physical and psychological health of women, after the Senate gave the go-ahead to the Pnrr decree to the amendment which provides for the entry of anti-abortion associations into clinics, despite the rejection by the European Commission, which had noted the total extraneous nature of the amendment to the Italian recovery and resilience plan, calling into question one of the most important laws of our system, 194/1978, which establishes the right of access and the methods of safe recourse for every woman to the interruption voluntary pregnancy.
“It is enough to remember that this law still represents an enforceable right to women’s health, their right to life after the dark times of illegal and clandestine abortion and the inhumanity of practices that have caused irreversible damage and the death of many, with the recognition of the social value of motherhood and the informed, conscious and free procreative choice of girls and women – explains Micaela Fanelli, adding that – since 1978 a lot of progress has been made and in the Italian regions with the creation of family counseling centers and the prevention services provided for by law, who, thanks to their commitment to information and awareness on such an important choice for women, have also ensured a constant decrease in the use of abortive practices”.
The motion therefore asks the Council to express the dissent of the Molise Region, starting with the Conference of the Regions, with respect to the rule included in the decree of 2 March 2024, n. 19, on the urgent provisions for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) and not to exercise the right to avail itself of the involvement of third sector entities, lacking the necessary medical and psychological professionalism in terms of maternity”, especially in consideration of the risks of violation of privacy, confidentiality and respect for women’s rights pursuant to law 194 and the secular nature of the public service. Furthermore, it asks the President of the Region to strengthen, despite the lack of transfers and state underfunding, the investment commitment in family clinics, which represent the offices responsible for guaranteeing the protection of women’s health in a context of freedom and autonomy, also implementing the presence of non-objecting doctors in Molise.
