women in the square in Bergamo

Bergamo. “Bergamo network against gender violence” returns to the streets, with the permanent garrison that it organizes every 8th of the month: meeting on Wednesday 8 May, from 6pm, in Largo Rezzara (adjacent to Piazza Pontida) in Bergamo.

Here is the appeal of the organizers.

After the extraordinary participation in the protest moved exceptionally to Cologno al Serio on 8 April, after the femicide of Joy Omoragbon, the Network calls once again to be present in the square, launching a real appeal to participate and fill the square to say no to the amendment to the PNRR which provides for the presence of the anti-abortion movement in public clinics, with resources provided for by the PNNR for health.

Law 194 is already poorly applied due to the high number of conscientious objector doctors: in many public hospitals, pregnancy termination is not a guaranteed service, as it should be by law. With the addition of the presence of anti-abortion associations in clinics, women’s right to decide about their own bodies will be even more seriously threatened.

Femicide and gender violence are violations of human rights, recognized as such by international conventions: denying the right to free and safe abortion is gender violence, therefore a violation of fundamental human rights. The Bergamo Network against gender violence expresses great concern and strong anger at this measure, which will also have repercussions on our territory.

A few days after the Resolution voted in Brussels to include abortion among the fundamental rights of the EU and after abortion was included in the Constitution in France, in Italy we are going back decades: with the continuous attempts to prevent the legitimate choice of women over their own bodies, the return of a conservative, chauvinist and sexist culture is becoming increasingly evident, which sees women as instruments, destined for the roles of wives and mothers, and not as active subjects who can and must be able to choose what do with your body and your life.

Let us not forget that a bill has been filed in Parliament to confer civil rights on the embryo, an initiative in continuity with the violent activism of anti-abortion associations in the territories, culminating in the collection of signatures to introduce the barbaric and violence of listening to the heartbeat of the fetus to women who choose to terminate their pregnancy.

Motherhood must always be a conscious choice. If you want to support it, you need to invest in services, primarily in nursery schools (which even in Bergamo have few places and very high fees), and in job protection, female workers are the first victims of precariousness and blackmail.

We should also worry about guaranteeing the full operation of public consultancies, which have been suppressed and weakened over the years. The law provides for one clinic for every 20 thousand inhabitants (10 thousand in internal and rural areas) but there is one clinic for every 32 thousand inhabitants, as the latest report from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità says (it dates back to six years ago, this is also symptomatic of lack of interest in the issue): there are 1,871 public clinics but there should be at least 3 thousand, 60% more.

And instead every year millions of euros of public funds are allocated to anti-abortion movements. In our country there are more CAV-Life Help Centers than public hospitals where it is possible to terminate a pregnancy. The CAVs, also present in the Bergamo area, never allocate more than 3,000 euros in total to women who they convince not to have an abortion: what is 3,000 euros for someone who has to raise a child? Crumbs. Which, however, add up to millions of euros taken away from essential services that work on prevention.

The data of Ministry of Health they say that Italy is the European country in which the fewest voluntary interruptions of pregnancy occur in proportion to the female population of childbearing age (15-49 years); they also say that the cause of the demographic decline we are witnessing in our country is not abortion, an argument that is often used as a bogeyman by anti-abortionists.

Claiming to decide about women’s bodies and lives, scaring them and blackmailing them in the corridors of the clinics where they go for gynecological visits, is not support for motherhood, progress for the common good, recognition of the fundamental role that women have in society: it is to deny freedom and self-determination is to terrorize and blame women. Abortion is a legitimate choice and provided for by law: it is a right. The presence of anti-abortion associations in clinics is an unbearable interference.

In Italy since the beginning of the year, 29 feminicides have occurred (some cases are under investigation); while 106 new calls to the Anti-Violence Centers in Bergamo and its province arrived in the month of April alone, there have been 460 since January 1st.
Ours is a country in which gender violence is structural and systemic, widespread in every social context and context: the Government’s anti-abortion amendment is a tragic confirmation of this.
For this reason, the Network launches a heartfelt appeal to participate in the protest on 8 May, inviting all the people who care about freedom, rights, peace and solidarity to the streets.

During the event there will be a musical performance by Angela Pavesi and Michele Dal Lago: songs by country musicians who questioned male dominance in the United States before the birth of the “Women’s Liberation Movement”.