Does the unborn child have an advocate in President Meloni? Source image: Wikimedia Commons / Italian Government
Abstain from Abortion in Italy and receive 1,000 Euros
Italian President Meloni's government believes it has found a solution to avoid abortion in the case of ‘unwanted’ pregnancy. On the table is a bill to give Italian women a thousand euros a month when this happens to them. But is this a sustainable solution?
An expensive Scheme
The plan is an initiative of President Meloni's ruling party, Forza Italia. Senator Maurizio Gasparri is of the opinion that preventing abortion is not merely a matter of morality, but that financial support for the mother is also a task of the government. There is a caveat to this: only women who do not want to keep their baby receive this support. This new so-called ‘maternity income’, which is an allowance of one thousand euros a month for a five-year period, aims to discourage women from having abortions for financial reasons. A nice plan with a hefty price tag: according to calculations, it would cost Italy around 600 million euros a year.
Appeasing Critics
Several Italian Christian organisations welcome the initiative, but the opposition is critical. For example, how do you check whether the future mother really wants to have an abortion, when in reality she may be purely after money? The government is trying to reassure the critics by imposing some requirements on the planned benefit, though. For instance, the woman in question must have Italian nationality and be resident in Italy. On top of that, an income limit of 15,000 euros per year has been set. But all these measures obviously cannot control motivation.
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Undermining Cuture of Death
Despite President Meloni labelling herself a conservative and an opponent of abortion, she is still not fully on the attack. When she took office, for instance, she had promised not to make any changes to the current abortion law, which allows women to have an abortion during the first 90 days. Health, economic or social reasons could be cited as reasons, including the way conception took place. Yet Meloni is trying to undermine abortion culture in several ways. In addition to this bill, for example, she has ensured that since April this year pro-life activists have had access to clinics to engage in discussions with women. In these efforts, the president has been assisted by Pope Francis, who described abortion in 2023 as ‘always a tragic defeat’. Despite everything, there is still a strong Catholic climate in Italy, and the Pope's words weigh heavily.
One Thing for Another
Why this attack on abortion? Of course, you can expect Conservatives to genuinely care about unborn life, and the motivations of Meloni and her party colleagues will be rooted in that. But the Meloni government also has a practical motivation. Since coming to power, they have launched an attack on unprecedented mass immigration, which spills into the rest of Europe via Italy, among other places. To compensate for the declining number of relatively young people coming from outside, they encourage the natural reproduction of their own population. And with one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, a steep ageing population and more than 65,000 abortions a year, this encouragement is much needed in light of current anti-immigration policies.
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A first Step
However, is offering money to women to convince them to keep their baby a good long-term solution? There are a few caveats to this. First, the Italian government must be careful that it does not simply become seen by women as ‘free money’. Secondly, it is disastrous for society when people become more and more dependent on the government, instead of seeing the family as its cornerstone in which they depend on each other for support. Thirdly, one needs to change something in national consciousness, discouraging the killing of unborn children through strict social control rather than a sum of money. But all in all, this by Meloni is certainly a good first step for the short term. Now just hope that more sustainable initiatives will follow this one.
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