Council of Europe raps Italy over difficulty in obtaining abortions
Women’s rights are being violated in Italy by the serious difficulties they face in trying to obtain safe abortions due to many doctors refusing to carry out the procedure, the Council of Europe said on Monday. Terminating pregnancies has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the council’s social rights committee found that the situation in Italy violated both the women’s right to protection of health and the doctors’ right to dignity at work. Women seeking an abortion are sometimes forced to go elsewhere in Italy or abroad, or bypass the authorities to get a termination.