Italy shocked at discovery of foetus graves bearing women's names
Italy shocked at discovery of foetus graves bearing women's names
ROME (AFP) - Small crosses made of wood and metal fill Lot 108 of Flaminio Cemetery in Rome, some painted white, some askew or fallen to the ground, all carrying female names.
They are not the names of the foetuses buried in the graves, but rather the names of the women who chose to have lawful abortions.
The discovery of the named graves last month by a woman who had undergone an abortion provoked outrage from women’s rights groups and the women involved, who denounced the public exposure of personal medical choices.
"To think that someone appropriated her body, that a rite was performed, that she was buried with a cross and my name on it, was like reopening a wound," Francesca, one of the many women affected, told AFP.
"I feel betrayed by the institutions."
The group Differenza Donna (Woman Difference) said it had been contacted by about 100 women who underwent abortions at hospitals in the city.
The activists are scheduled to meet the health minister next week and have petitioned the public prosecutor’s office to open an investigation.
Italy’s privacy watchdog has also opened a probe into the practice, which appears for now to be a bureaucratic procedure gone awry.
Ugly act
The scandal first came to light last month after a woman who had an abortion -- at a hospital different from the one used by Francesca -- discovered her name on a cross at the cemetery and posted on Facebook, a message that soon went viral.
Elisa Ercoli, president of Differenza Donna, described the discovery as the latest slap in the face for women in the majority Catholic country, calling it an "ugly, authoritarian act".
Abortion within the first 90 days of pregnancy has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the law allows for conscientious objectors among medical professionals.
Seven out of 10 gynaecologists in the country refuse to carry out the procedure, complicating access to abortions for women in some areas.
