Italian Parliament to review abortion law

The head of the lower house of Parliament gave the go-ahead yesterday for a commission to review the use of abortion in Italy, an issue which looks certain to inflame an approaching general election campaign.

Lower house speaker Pierferdinando Casino said he had accepted a request by the Health Minister to look into the application of Italy's abortion law, adding the commission should complete its work by January 31.

Abortion was made legal in Roman Catholic Italy in 1978 despite fierce opposition from the influential Vatican.

The issue remains controversial and centre-left opposition politicians have accused the centre-right government of wanting to stoke the debate ahead of next April's election in the hope of winning support from Roman Catholic voters.

"This inquiry is a mockery and only aimed at the electoral campaign," said Greens party leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio.

Health Minister Francesco Storace won praise from the Vatican last month when he suggested that pro-life activists should work in state-funded abortion advisory clinics to discourage women from terminating their pregnancies.

At the same time, he urged a review of the abortion law. Although he did not call for the law to be overturned, Mr Storace said he wanted a thorough investigation to insure that clinics were strictly following the abortion code.

Anxious not to alienate the important Roman Catholic vote, centre-left politicians last week suggested offering women financial rewards if they decided not to have an abortion.

But at the same time, they have vowed to defend the abortion laws and criticised the tight schedule imposed by Mr Casini for the commission, saying the approaching Christmas holidays would give parliamentarians just three weeks to look into the matter. "We will be on our guard to make sure that this commission doesn't throw up any abuses or underhand moves," said former Health Minister Rosy Bindi.

As the political debate heats up, Church leaders have taken every opportunity to stress their total opposition to abortion.

Pope Benedict renewed the Church position yesterday, saying in his weekly blessing in St Peter's Square that human life had to be respected "right from conception to its natural end".

Abortions hit an all-time high in Italy in 1982 when 235,000 pregnancies were terminated. According to the latest health ministry data, 132,178 abortions were carried out in 2003.

The abortion issue has taken on added relevance because of Italy's low birth rate, with woman of childbearing age having on average just 1.28 children according to statistics office Istat - one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, and down from 2.2 per cent in 1975.