Left wants to change abortion law, not us says Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 18 - The Left wants to change Italy's abortion law, not the government which has come under fire, also from Spain, for alleged plans to let pro-life advocates into abortion clinics, Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday.
    Meloni again described these reports as "fake news".
    "Those who want to change Law 194 is the Left, not us. We only want to guarantee free choices".
    Meloni has hit back hard after a Spanish minister criticised an alleged Italian government measure that would allow 'pro-maternity' associations access to abortion clinics.
    "When you are ignorant on a subject you must at least have the good sense not to give lessons," Meloni said in response to comments by Spanish Equality Minister Ana Recondo.
    Recondo had said that: "allowing organised pressure against women who want to interrupt a pregnancy means undermining a right recognised by the law.
    "It is the strategy of the far right: to threaten to strip rights, to rein in parity between women and men," she said on X.
    Italy's Pro Vita & Famiglia pro-life and family group said Tuesday it would not enter the abortion consultancies, where women receive certificates to have an abortion, despite the government's reported plans.
    The government's alleged plans have sparked the ire of women's and abortion groups as well as liberal political parties.
    Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978 but it is hard to get in practice with around half the country's doctors conscientious objectors on moral or religious grounds, rising to almost 90% in some regions.
    Meloni suggested that the Left wanted to make abortion easier to access. (ANSA).