A LAW TO BE REPEALED, NO IFs AND BUTS
Reporting of Roman correspondence

Alfredo de Matteo, Family Tomorrow – 7 maggio 2018
As is known, This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the law 194 which he made legal, in Italy, the murder of unborn children. The immense tribute of innocent blood shed on the altar of female self-determination requires us to combat legal abortion with every lawful means at our disposal.
In particular, the battle on an intellectual level plays a decisive role, since some myths around the law 194, originated over the years, they weakened the clash between the two opposing factions on the field: those who defend the reasons for life against those who instead defend the pseudo reasons of freedom of choice and conscience on voluntary abortion. Here, we aim to critically analyze some issues related to the law 194/1978 using a discussion scheme that follows at least in part the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas. For each issue or question, the arguments and observations that are against the proposed thesis are first stated (it seems like), then in the main body the answer to the question is developed through the contestation of the initial objections.
QUESTION
THE LAW 194/1978 ON ABORTION
Let us consider the law in its articles and as a whole.
They ask themselves about this topic 4 questions: 1. The law 194 tends to combat the phenomenon of clandestine abortion? 2. The law 194 contemplates abortion as a means of birth control? 3. The law 194 recognizes a woman's right to have an abortion? 4. The law 194 it is a good law to be applied better?
ITEM 1
THE LAW 194 IT TENDS TO COUNTERBACK THE PHENOMENON OF CLANDESTINE ABORTION?
It seems so. Indeed:
1.Before the law came into force 194 women were forced, to abort, to turn to the so-called mothers, that is, people without proven medical-surgical skills who carried out clandestine abortions, with serious risks to their health. However, especially in recent years, the excessive incidence of the phenomenon of conscientious objection by healthcare personnel has led to a series of disservices for public structures, which favored a sort of return to clandestine practice.

2. The best way to stem the effects and consequences of unwanted behavior is to make it legal; in this way, the behavior itself is removed from the hands of organized crime and greater protection is obtained for the people involved. Furthermore, once unwanted behavior is made legal it will tend to decrease.

Answer: 1. First of all, it must be kept in mind that the data relating to clandestine abortions cannot be certain but only presumed, for obvious reasons. In any case, the statistics on the phenomenon provided by the responsible institutional bodies indicate that, forty years after the entry into force of law 194, the annual number of clandestine abortions remains very high, around 13.000 unit[1]; this data is constant over time and, among other things, does not appear to be lower than that relating to the years before the law, indeed. About the alleged correlation between conscientious objection and clandestine abortions, it is not supported by the official statistical data provided by the Ministry of Health according to which the "workload" of non-objecting doctors has been constantly decreasing over the years, as well as the waiting times to access pregnancy termination. It should also be underlined that despite the possibility offered to women to have an abortion legally and in apparent safety in hospitals, illegal abortion continues to be practiced do-it-yourself or in clinics where the doctor tends to replace the figure of the mother. Evidently, the root causes of the failure to disappear clandestine abortions must be sought elsewhere, in particular in the anti-educational role of the law, as we will see better later. In any case, it seems that the distinction between safe abortion, i.e. legal, and unsafe abortion, that is, clandestine, is baseless. That is, Serious safety deficiencies have been found in several abortion clinics, so much so that safety-related incidents occur in a number of facilities, including medical errors and equipment failures, they increased by a third in just one year[2].
2.Voluntary abortion is the planned killing of an innocent and defenseless human being. Once the principle that the particular interests of the woman must prevail over the right to life of the unborn child has been passed, even the labile conditions imposed by the law are experienced by the woman as an unacceptable limitation of her presumed right to have an abortion. Effectively, these "boundaries" are devoid of scientific value and intrinsic coherence given that the innocent person's right to life, by its nature,either it is absolute or it is not[3].The opposite is therefore true, that is, the legalization of prenatal infanticide can only lead to an increase in infanticides themselves, both legal and clandestine, as the statistics show, official and otherwise, on the practice of abortion[4].The thesis according to which the legalization of abortion would discourage the criminal activities connected to it is also unfounded. Actually, clandestine abortion, far from having been opposed by law, it has simply evolved and perfected into more modern forms accessible to all (especially with the placing on the market of abortifacient and crypto-abortive products), therefore even more dangerous.
ITEM 2
THE LAW 194 CONTEMPLATES ABORTION AS A MEANS OF BIRTH CONTROL?
It seems not. Indeed:
1.In the article 1 of the law it is written that “The State guarantees the right to conscious and responsible procreation, recognizes the social value of motherhood and protects human life from its beginning. Voluntary termination of pregnancy, referred to in this law, it is not a means of birth control. The State, the regions and local authorities, within the scope of its functions and responsibilities, promote and develop social and health services, as well as other initiatives necessary to prevent abortion from being used for the purposes of limiting births”. Therefore, there cannot be misunderstandings or incorrect interpretations that lead to the thought that abortion can be used by women as a contraceptive method, since this prohibition is formally made explicit by law.

2. We could talk about abortion being used as a contraceptive if this practice were free, that is, not bound by solid barriers that limit its use to certain and extreme conditions. The law 194 aims to protect human life and maternity, not to make access to pregnancy termination easy.

Answer: 1. The law 194 consists of several articles; in the introductory part it tends to show a positive and guaranteeist soul which however is destined to remain a dead letter. Indeed, the central regulatory body, i.e. the articles regulating the termination of pregnancy, is in stark contrast to what is solemnly stated in the preamble and in the article 1, as we will see in detail.

2. The regulatory core of the law 194 is made up of articles 4 e 6 in which the legislator lists the conditions necessary for a woman to have access to abortion: item 4: “For the voluntary termination of pregnancy within the first ninety days, the woman who alleges circumstances for which the continuation of the pregnancy, childbirth or maternity would pose a serious risk to her physical or mental health, in relation to or your state of health, or his economic conditions, or social or family, or the circumstances in which conception occurred, or to predictions of anomalies or malformations of the conceived, contacts a public counseling center established pursuant to the article 2, letter to), of the law 29 July 1975 number 405, or to a socio-health structure authorized for this by the region, or to a doctor you trust”. From the analysis of the text it is clear that the alleged limits are completely evanescent and devoid of actual effectiveness. Indeed, the range of reasons that can be given by the child's mother is so wide that it practically tends towards infinity. Why, it is possible to affirm without fear of contradiction that the law 194 allows abortion on simple request within the first ninety days of gestation. So if abortion is free, it can also be used by women for the purposes of limiting births or even for this very reason. Item 6: “Voluntary termination of pregnancy, after the first ninety days, can be practiced: a) when pregnancy or childbirth poses a serious risk to the woman's life; b) when pathological processes are established, including those relating to significant anomalies or malformations of the unborn child, which cause a serious danger to the physical or mental health of women”. Note how, also in this case, the emphasis is placed on the psychophysical health of the woman and not on the unborn child. Why, it is always the needs and requirements of the mother that prevail over those of the child, which can be aborted even after ninety days of gestation if malformations are found(through even just presumed diagnoses).

ITEM 3
THE LAW 194 RECOGNIZES A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO ABORTION?
It seems not. Indeed:
1.The fact that a woman has the right to have an abortion is not written anywhere in the law. On the contrary, in the preamble and in the article 1 it is clearly written in the same that abortion is not a means of birth control and that human life must be protected from its beginning. Furthermore, the 194 entrusts the consultants with the task of helping the woman to remove the causes that would lead her to terminate her pregnancy by offering her all the necessary help both during pregnancy and after giving birth (articles 2 e 5). Based on this, it is deduced that by law 194 abortion cannot be considered a woman's right but the extreme remedy in extreme situations.
Answer: 1. The fact that in the law corresponds to the truth 194 we never talk about the right to abortion, but it is equally true that it considers it, in fact, as such. Indeed, as we have already seen, abortion is practically free in the first three months of pregnancy and very easy to obtain in the following months. Furthermore, demonstrating the ideological nature of the current legislation,it must be underlined how the father of the conceived child is totally cut off from the final decision which belongs solely to the woman. As regards the task entrusted to the consultants, that is, to try to remove the causes of abortion, it is very unlikely and very difficult to implement, given the limited resources available to the public structure. In any case, il first mover of law 194 is to guarantee women the right to have abortion;so, the provisions contained in the articles 2 e 5 they break the general norm, much more cogent, which recognizes the possibility for women to have an abortion. Finally, the completely free nature of the healthcare service (item no. 10) constitutes further confirmation of the fact that abortion is considered by law 194 as a true human right.
ITEM 4
THE 194 IT IS A GOOD LAW TO BE APPLIED BETTER?
It seems so. Indeed:

1. From the approval of 194 a reduction of more than 50% was found in Italy 60 percent of legal terminations of pregnancy. Plus, the effects of the law 194, in terms of abortion prevention, they would have been much better if the article 1 of the same law, relating precisely to the prevention of abortion, and the article 15, relating to the updating of healthcare personnel regarding issues related to sexual education and contraceptive methods, had been applied more scrupulously.
2. The article 5 from the 194 provides help to women who would otherwise be forced to have an abortion by unfavorable circumstances such as economic and work-related ones, which are the most frequent causes of resorting to pregnancy terminations; it also provides, as we have seen, the implementation by the consultancy of interventions aimed at removing the causes that would lead the woman to terminate her pregnancy as well as the promotion of any appropriate intervention aimed at supporting the woman and concretely helping her. Evidently, this important preventive part was mostly ignored.
3. The law 194, to the article 9, recognizes the full right of Catholics and in general of those who respect the principle according to which life begins at conception to make conscientious objection.
4. The law 194, to the articles 17,18,19 e 20, pursues any violation of the law in a precise and rigorous manner.

Answer: 1. Starting from 1978, year of entry into force of the law 194, legal abortions have grown almost exponentially until reaching a peak of over 234.000 In the 1982; subsequently the number of abortions began to decline and has relatively stabilized in recent years. This reduction was caused by a series of factors that are not attributable to the alleged deterrent effect of the 194: in particular, the decrease in general fertility and of couples of childbearing age and above all the advent of various abortion pills and so-called emergency contraceptives have had an impact. Suffice it to say that following the marketing of the so-called five-day-later pill, otherwise known as EllaOne, only in the first ten months of 2016 were more sold 200.00 packages[5].
So, in recent decades, surgical abortion has been joined by chemical abortion, with a number of infanticides that is not exactly quantifiable but certainly in the order of several hundred thousand. But the mistake (or deception) more macroscopic is that of wanting to demonstrate the decline in abortions by taking into consideration only the years of application of the law 194. Actually, the true comparison of the data should be carried out between the years before and after the law. In this way, the obvious would be discovered, that is, that the truthful comparison is between 0 legal abortions of 1977 and beyond 84.000 of the 2016. As regards the alleged preventive part of the 194, we have already seen how the article 1 contains purely superficial statements that are completely detached from the regulatory body of the law itself, whose trueratioit allows the elimination of the innocent. In the end, it is possible to state that the use of contraceptive methods, far from preventing the use of abortion, it is itself the cause of its increase. Indeed, the function of the contraceptive is to prevent sexual intercourse from reaching its natural end; therefore, its eventual failure can more likely lead the woman to abortion, that is, not to accept the unexpected and initially unwanted birth of the child she is carrying in her womb. To demonstrate this, a close correlation is highlighted between the massive diffusion of contraceptives and the strong increase in the use of abortion, especially among teenagers[6].

2. Abortion is never a solution, if anything it is always a bad thing: first and foremost for the child who is violently prevented from being born, but also for the mother who often remains scarred for life. Post-abortion syndrome affects a considerable number of women who are guilty of this crime, which, among other consequences, are more likely to commit suicide than others[7]. It should also be added that women more often abort for superficial reasons, not for compelling and serious economic and work reasons, as numerous statistics suggest[8]. In Italy, to terminate the pregnancy in 40% some cases are married women with a stable job, as reported in the annual reports of the Ministry of Health. In any case,we have already seen how the task entrusted to public consultancies is extremely burdensome and difficult to implement in practice. So, It should come as no surprise that the articles of law dedicated to the prevention of abortion have so far had little or no dissuasive force, not because its application has been disregarded but because it is structurally weak as it is inserted within a regulatory system that is overall hostile to life.

3.Regarding conscientious objection, the law 194 “exempts healthcare personnel and those carrying out auxiliary activities from carrying out procedures and activities specifically and necessarily aimed at determining the termination of pregnancy, and not from the assistance prior to and following the intervention”. Furthermore, “Conscientious objection cannot be invoked by healthcare personnel, and carries out auxiliary activities when, given the particularity of the circumstances, their personal intervention is essential to save the life of the woman in imminent danger”.
Therefore, the obligation for the doctor to participate anyway, somehow, to abortive surgery, does not allow him to fully exercise his right to conscientious objection. Furthermore, it is the hospital structures themselves that make the exercise of this right increasingly problematic, especially when it conflicts with the woman's right to terminate the pregnancy[9]. In any case, the prohibition on deliberately killing an innocent human being and on participating even indirectly in the abortive act is absolute, non-negotiable as it is based on natural law.

4. The law 194 has trivialized the use of abortion, making it practically free, easy and completely free. In a nutshell, it transformed a crime into an unquestionable right for women. Therefore, even those articles aimed at prosecuting any violation of the law are inevitably destined to have less and less deterrent power over time. Indeed, with a decree of 2016 Clandestine abortion has been decriminalized, as evidence of the perverse and perverting nature of the unjust law 194.

[1] Report from the Ministry of Health on the implementation of the law 194/1978 – definitive data 2016
[2] Report published in December 2016 from the Care QualityCommission (CQC)
[3] The law 194 allows abortion on simple request within the first ninety days, as if only beyond this limit were we in the presence of a human being with rights. Science has instead demonstrated that human life begins at conception and that in the first trimester of life the child is already fully formed. In fact, in the following months he does nothing but grow and develop.
[4] Study published by the journal The Lancet and drawn up by GuttmacherInstitute
[5] Data collected by Federfarma; report on abortions practiced by local health authorities in 2016 of the Emilia Romagna region
[6] Study of 2009 published in the scientific journal Italian Journal of Gynaecology&Obstetrics, official body of Italian gynecologists
[7] Study of 2011 published on British Journal of Psychiatry
[8]The Alan GuttmacherInstitute (2000, 2001 e 2005); International Family Planning Perspectives (1998); Journal Epidemiol Community Health (2003),just to mention some of the most significant studies
[9] San Camillo Hospital in Rome, call for operators to be assigned to Day Hospital e DaySurgery for the application of the law 194, anno 2017