«Interference to avoid abortion»? What happened (really) in Valle d’Aosta

Suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly the debate regarding the correct application of law 194 ignites in Valle d’Aosta. The casus belli was a note from the Women’s Center against Violence in Aosta which states that it has collected reports from women who «having arrived at public health facilities in the regional territory to access voluntary termination of pregnancy were in the same places subjected to undue interference and pressure from volunteers”. The statement details by specifying that it would have been imposed “listening to the fetal heartbeat or in the promise of economic support or consumer goods, with the specific intent of dissuading them from the very personal and often painful choice to have an abortion”. The Women’s Center also announces that it will launch “actions to monitor the correct application of law 194/1978 in the regional territory”.

The news arrives in the editorial offices on the evening of the 26th and explodes on the 27th. Attention shifts to who were the subjects who had “interfered”. With a note, the Local Health Authority informs “that there are no volunteers from pro-life associations in the clinics or in the hospital and that no report to this effect has been received by the Company either from citizens or associations”. The Social Policies Department of the Department of Health, Health and Social Policies also communicates “that the Department’s offices have received no reports in this regard from the Association that manages the Anti-Violence Centre”.

After a few hours, the Movement for Life – Life Help Center of Aosta also intervenes to close the circle and in a note signed by Mariarosa Rosso, with her husband Flaviano Tagliaferri who has always been the contact person for the Movement in the Aosta Valley, specifies “who does not carry out activities in public health centers in the regional territory”. And as the main local association of reference for the protection of unborn life, it asks “which bodies are involved in this action”, hoping for “a timely investigation by the Local Health Authority that can clarify the reports reported”.

But there is more: the note also recalls how «the Italian Movement for Life, of which we are federated, did not support the popular initiative law proposal which provided for the obligation to use instrumental tests (such as the heartbeat) to women intending to have an abortion”. Rosso adds that the Movement for Life «supports women in difficulty due to pregnancy, offering moral and material support, which in no way undermines the freedom of choices. It is always the women who come into contact with the volunteers, not vice versa.”

On the occasion of the last Day for Life, celebrated on February 2, the Movement, in collaboration with the diocesan Family and Seniors Office, promoted a fundraiser entitled “A flower for Life” to support the activities of the local Cav . Donors were offered a primrose, a sign of rebirth and hope. «The response from the Aosta Valley community – says Tagliaferri – was very positive, exceeding our expectations, both for the offers received and for the expressions of appreciation for the volunteering carried out by the Help Centre. With the funds received we intend to finance the series of meetings “Communicating with the child before birth”, now in its sixth edition. Furthermore, they will be used to support mothers in difficulty who turn to the Centre.” Since it has existed, the Aosta Valley Cav, by helping mothers, has allowed the birth of around a hundred children.

Small final corollary: some national newspapers have revealed an involvement in the story of Francesca Lombardi, an objecting gynecologist, a volunteer for the pro-life movement, who however, as pointed out by the same newspapers, has been retired since 2022. At that point some reconstructions have hypothesized that even today she is called to counseling centers in Northern Italy to try to dissuade her from abortion, but the person concerned explains that since retirement “she has never crossed the threshold of a counseling center either in Valle d’Aosta or elsewhere”. She also reaffirms that in her professional life she has always acted with respect for users and has never forced anyone to listen to the fetal heartbeat before a possible termination of pregnancy.