According to a report from the Italian Ministry of Health, the abortion rate has continued to drop in the country, a trend evident since 1982. There has also been an increase in conscientious objection to abortion among health care workers. In Campania, almost 90% of gynaecologists refuse to perform the procedure, and the rate for all of southern Italy is about 80%.
In response, the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL), a national labour union, has demanded that only physicians willing to perform abortions should be employed in the public health system. However, the Ministry’s own statistics demonstrate that 95 percent of requested abortions are performed within three weeks,
while 90 percent are not considered medically urgent. Lawyer Giacomo Rocchi, also an Italian Supreme Court magistrate, went to Strasbourg to represent a number of associations in their defence of freedom of conscience.[LifeSite News]