Italy Takes the Choice out of the Abortion Choice
(flickr/Nationaal Archief)
I am pro-choice, pro-abortion, pro-women’s lives. I get annoyed when I express this to someone anti-abortion and they tell me that adoption is a viable option, that abortion is an easy way out and that it is used as birth control. All of these things are not true, especially for low-income women, who are the largest group to obtain abortions in the U.S.
My immediate reaction is always, “Are you going to help her raise her child? Are you going to give her the money for diapers? Money for clothing? Money for the loss of time spent at a job?”
So, my immediate reaction when I read yesterday that a small regional government in Italy will be paying women to not get an abortion, I said “yes!”
Authorities from the Lombardy Region, on Italy’s border with Switzerland, approved the creation of a 5-million euro ($6.1 million) fund aimed at providing help to low-income families, the region said on its website this week.
The fund would grant about 4,500 euros ($5,500) a year to a woman who changes her mind about having an abortion because of economic reasons. The woman would receive 250 euros ($306) a month for 18 months, according to the site.
Then, I thought on the intentions of this fund. I doubt it’s to really give a viable option to women who would not otherwise be able to afford it. I suspect it’s yet another way to control women’s bodies and to limit their options.
The option of accepting the check will be presented to women in abortion clinics during the consultations they have prior to having an abortion, the site said. The region’s health department said economic reasons were the predominant reason that woman have abortions.
It’s the government’s way of dictating what they think is best for women and makes the choice for them instead of trying to alleviate poverty all together, it just makes sure that more people are born into poverty and will have less of a chance at equality.
The offer to subsidize a child makes that decision that much harder to make, even if the money will not cover all the costs. It makes getting an abortion shameful and makes the option harder to make. I imagine if someone is sitting in front of you, asking you if you’d like to opt out of the abortion to instead, get a monthly check, it makes saying, “no, I want this abortion,” a little harder to say.
Lisa Gillespie is a former staff writer for Campus Progress as well as the Managing Editor & New Media Director at Street Sense. She graduated from the University of North Carolina–Asheville.
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