An Italian politician has introduced a proposal that would provide 4,000 euro payments to incentivize 100 pregnant women to choose life for their children instead of abortion.
The idea originated with Maurizio Marrone, regional councilor for social policies in the Piedmont region of Italy. He developed the proposal to help pregnant women who feel pressured to abort because of economic reasons. Marrone proposed providing pro-life organizations with 400,000 euros, which those organizations could then divide and provide to 100 women so that they do not feel they need to end their pregnancies due for economic reasons.
“In Piedmont, 100 more children will be born,” said Marrone, a politician of the Brothers of Italy, a national conservative political party. “Children who would not otherwise have come into the world because of their mothers’ financial hardship.”
READ: Italy relaxes restrictions on the abortion pill despite country’s plummeting birth rate
Sadly, the proposed measure has incited the ire of pro-abortion politicians in Italy. Another Piedmont councilwoman, Sarah Disabato, described it as a “substantial gift to anti-abortion propaganda.”
This is not the first time an Italian region has made a move like this one. In 2010, authorities from the Lombardy Region in northern Italy approved a measure to pay women from low-income families not to have abortions. The fund provided 4,500 euros a year to women who choose not to have an abortion.
Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978. However, a strongly pro-life culture remains, and today, seven in 10 Italian gynecologists refuse to commit abortions on the grounds of conscientious objection, according to official government figures. In some areas of the country, 90% of doctors refuse to commit abortions.
Incentivizing families to have children is not a foreign concept in Italy. Due to Italy’s extremely low birth rate — one of the lowest in Europe — Italy’s parliament passed a bill in 2020 to encourage couples to have more children by providing financial incentives in the form of monthly payments for families of children beginning in the seventh month of pregnancy until the child turns 18.
Pro-abortion activists often tout abortion as a pregnancy solution for poor couples, offering no alternatives but ending a preborn child’s life. Marrone’s proposal changes that and offers real help to families going through difficult economic times. It’s a stark reminder that abortion is not the solution to economic hardship, and that providing families with resources and support is a viable option that respects the mother and preserves the life of the child. Abortion is not the answer.
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