UN Pushes Italy to Supply Abortionists

News: World News

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th. • ChurchMilitant.com • March 30, 2017

Report expresses concern that too many doctors are opting out

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ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - The United Nations (U.N.) is pushing Italy to force more doctors to perform abortions because many of Italy's doctors, in conscience, refuse to do so.

In their annual report on Italy released Tuesday, the U.N.'s Human Rights Committee is saying women in Italy are having "difficulties in accessing legal abortions owing to the high number of physicians who refuse to perform abortions for reasons of conscience." The report alleges the lack of willing abortionists is resulting in "a significant number of clandestine abortions being carried out," but doesn't back up the claim with any statistics.

The U.N. concludes by urging Italy to "take measures necessary to guarantee unimpeded and timely access to legal abortion services in its territory, including by establishing an effective referral system for women seeking legal abortion services."

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Italian law gives physicians the option to make a conscientious objection to opt-out of performing abortions. It's estimated that 70 percent of Italy's gynaecologists refuse to perform abortion. The country legalized abortion in 1978. After the end of the first trimester, however, abortion is only allowed in the country if the baby is badly harmed or if the mother's life is at risk.

While praising Italy for legalizing same-sex marriage last year, the U.N. report also takes Italy to task for not passing laws authorizing same-sex couples to adopt children. "While welcoming the adoption of the Law No. 76 of 20 May 2016, the Committee remains concerned that the Act does not provide same-sex couples the right to adopt children and does not afford full legal protection to those children living in same-sex families," reads the report.

Lastly, they took exception to Italy's not providing in vitro fertilization and for not doing more to stamp out so-called "hate speech" against the LGBT community. The report reads, "It is also concerned about the continued denial of access to In Vitro Fertilization under Law 400/2004, and at the prevalence of discrimination and hate speech against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons."

In pressuring sovereign countries like Italy to conform to the U.N.'s standards of immoral practices, the U.N. has seemingly violated its own previous resolution of the U.N. General Assembly regarding "Respect for the principles of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of States in their electoral processes (1996)."

In this resolution the U.N. affirmed that nothing in their Charter "shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the Charter."

Furthermore, their resolution had reaffirmed the "the right to self-determination, by virtue of which all peoples can freely determine, without external interference, their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

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