Debate in Italy: Child's Heartbeat Act

In Italy, a parliamentary debate is presently underway on the Uncuore Che Batta Act, known as the ‘Act on the Beating Heart of the Fetal’. Its introduction would mean that women deciding to have an abortion will hear the heartbeat of their unborn child. If the law is passed, Italy will become the second country in Europe after Hungary, which has adopted specified regulations.

The current proposal for Act No. 194, known as Uncuore che batte (the beating heart), is to be discussed by the Italian Justice and Social Affairs Commissions, as reported in the Avenire Journal. The task was presented by the Italian Pro-Vita e Famigilia group, which together with the aid of many another Italian pro-life organizations collected around 106,000 signatures. In Italy, at least 50,000 signatures are required for a citizens' legislative initiative to be submitted to Parliament.

At the same time, another proposals for laws to defend life have appeared in the parliamentary forum. 1 of them is the task submitted by the Forza Italia party, which proposes to ‘recognise the legal capacity from conception’. Another proposal put forward by the Lega group assumes that the "initiated child" should be considered a "family member" in any situation. All these initiatives search to change the 1978 Italian law, which allows abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.

It is not clear whether the "heart-beating" law will pass through Parliament, but this pro-life initiative is already facing strong media criticism. The main origin of concern is the fact that Italian pro-life groups have close links with the American anti-abortion movement. For example, 1 of the largest Italian pro-life organisations, Movimento per la Vita (‘The Movement for Life’), has close ties with the American Heartbeat global organization, from which it receives a crucial part of its financial resources.

Italian pro-life groups influence not only the legislative sphere. Even before the proposal for a "heart-beating" bill was submitted to Parliament, there was a change of approach in any medical institutions in Italy, which began to depart from pro-abortion positions.

Pro-life organisations managed to access hospitals and household planning clinics with the approval of wellness officials. In any regions, local authorities awarded money awards to women who had given up abortion. In addition, now about 7 out of 10 Italian gynecologists refuse to execute abortions, which shows changing trends and views in society.

Italian changes to abortion law inspire what Hungary did 2 years ago. Hungary introduced regulations that order women to perceive to the heartbeat of their unborn kid before deciding on abortion. Italy is now considering akin solutions, suggesting an expanding interest in protecting life in Europe. If Italy follows the Hungarian path, this could encourage another European countries to introduce akin legislation. This direction of change shows increasing support for the pro-life approach, which aims to strengthen the protection of the life of unborn children.

Supporters of abortion frequently claim that a fertilized egg is just a clump of cells. Following this line of thinking, why not let women see this “clip” and perceive to the heartbeat of his heart? Abortion supporters say it's an act of violence! But if for them they are only cells, why should that be considered violence? specified an argument seems illogical and undermines the coherence of the communication of pro-abortion environments.

jb
Source: okoka.org.pl