Rome, Italy, Aug 10, 2004 / 22:00 pm
An Italian senator announced last weekend he intends to sponsor a bill that would require women to pay half of the costs of a second abortion and all costs of any subsequent ones.
Antonio Gentile, a senator of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, said, “It is unacceptable that so many children are dying in the wombs of their mothers.”
Girolamo Sirchia, Minister of Health, said he could consider the proposal, arguing that the 1978 law on abortion should be reviewed in order “to evaluate the positive and negative aspects.”
“I don’t know any details about the proposal but I appreciate the motives behind it. We must avoid thinking about abortion as a form of contraception,” he said on the Sky Italia television network.