Row brews over Italian abortion proposals
BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7463.418-a (Published 19 August 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:418All rapid responses
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GS/dn/557/2004
Roma, August 27, 2004
The Editor
British Medical Journal
____________________
Dear Sir,
It is unfortunate that the article by Sophie Arie on “Row brews over
Italian abortion proposals” published in your Journal on August 21 (BMJ
2004;329:418) contains a number of significant inaccuracies.
1) I am asking you to have the following clarifications published:
2) the article asserts I should have told the daily paper Corriere della
Sera that “Italy’s existing abortion law should be updated to discourage
women from having abortions”. Actually I suggested a better enforcement of
the Italian law on abortion, as all provisions stating how to remove
economical difficulties which induce women to have abortion for these
reasons were sofar poorly applied;
3) it asserts I am a member of a small ultra-Catholic movement within the
government coalition called Communion and Liberation. I declare I do not
belong to any Catholic movement and even less to the Movement called
Communion and Liberation. In addition, I am not a transplant surgeon but a
transplant immunologist who has set up for 25 years the transplantation
program of North of Italy;
4) it asserts that in my opinion “abortion is used as birth control by
around 30.000 immigrant women, many of whom work as prostitutes in Italy”.
I never declared that immigrant women are chiefly working as prostitutes
in Italy, as actually they are mainly recruited as maids or workers;
5) the availability of the emergency contraceptive pill over the counter
has provoked negative reactions in many countries, including the United
Kingdom, and we still believe that this drug, as other important
compounds, should be prescribed by a medical doctor;
6) it asserts that Mrs Bonino has criticised the Health Minister for
launching a direct personal attack on a law that it is his job to defend.
I never launched an attack on this law, but simply requested it may be
better enforced since the objective of the existing law is to sustain
motherhood rather than granting abortion. I reiterate therefore that under
this aspect the law must be better used, since it is a shame that
economical difficulties may be the main cause inducing a woman to have
abortion.
Finally, I am deeply convinced that abortion is a failure and a great
shock for women, consequently cannot be considered as an instrument for
birth control; it should be limited to those cases when pregnancy may be a
danger for the health of women. I also believe that since the Roman period
any civilization has always been worried to defend both mother and unborn
baby, thus protecting women from being induced to have abortion because of
economical problems.
With best regards
Girolamo Sirchia MD, FRCP Edin
Minister of Health
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Comments of the Italian Minister of Health
I read with interest the Italian Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia’s
response to my recent article. I am glad he has found it important to
comment further on this highly sensitive and controversial issue in Italy
and in many other countries.
The minister’s letter says my article carries ‘a number of
significant inaccuracies’. He identifies two specific elements in my
article which were inaccurate. I regret those mistakes and am glad they
can now be corrected.
Firstly I described the minister as a ‘transplant surgeon’ when in
fact he is a ‘transplant immunologist’.
Secondly, I described the minister as a member of the ultra-Catholic
movement, Communion and Liberation. The minister is not a member of this
organisation. He does however have connections to the organisation and has
attended two of its recent annual kermesses.
I do not consider that the other points the minister makes refer to
inaccuracies in my article rather to complicated issues in a sensitive and
ongoing debate which still requires much clarification. I think it is
useful here to give background for three of the points the minister makes:
In point no. 2, Dr Sirchia explains that he does not want Italy's
abortion law to be ‘updated’ he wants it to be ‘better enforced.’
On August the 8th, the Corriere della Sera reported the minister
making the following statement in a Sky news interview:
“It is desirable that a law be reviewed after a lapse of time,
whether to evaluate its positive or negative aspects,” the newspaper
quoted him saying. “I do not believe that there is anything that cannot be
changed in a society that is constantly changing so it is always worth
rethinking things that have been done and things that can be done better.”
After much criticism, the minister issued a clarification on his
position which was reported in the Corriere della Sera newspaper on August
10.
“Today, the political conditions are not right for reopening the
debate on the (law number) 194 (on abortion) but there are conditions for
rethinking the way the law is applied” he said.
In point number 4, the minister states that he does not maintain that
the majority of immigrant women in Italy work as prostitutes. My report
does not suggest the contrary. It says, as the minister quotes, that the
minister had highlighted the fact that immigrant women are one of the
groups most frequently resorting to abortion in Italy and ‘many’ of those
women are working in prostitution.
The minister’s point no. 6 refers to comments made to me by Emma
Bonino. Bonino has repeatedly commented in the Italian press recently that
she feels the health minister’s view that ‘abortion is murder’ is highly
unsuitable and contradictory given that he heads the health ministry in a
country where abortion is legal and murder is not.
Regards,
Sophie Arie
Competing interests:
Author of original article
Competing interests: No competing interests