Opposition leader Salvini’s abortion comments fuel ire
ROME: Italy’s opposition leader Matteo Salvini provoked a vehement backlash on Monday after insinuating that migrant women who went to emergency rooms to seek an abortion led an “uncivilised” life.
The comments from the ex-interior minister and head of the far-right League that some women having abortions were using emergency rooms “like health ATMs” came during a political rally in Rome on Sunday.
“Emergency room nurses in Milan let me know there are women who have shown up for the seventh time for an abortion,” Mr Salvini told supporters.
“It’s not for me to judge, it’s right for a woman to choose, but the emergency room can’t be the solution for uncivilised lifestyles in 2020.”
Reaction was swift.
The head of Italy’s Democratic Party (PD), Nicola Zingaretti, said Mr Salvini’s comments showed him increasingly desperate ahead of regional elections this spring where he hopes to win key regions of Italy for the League.
“Salvini mouths off even more every day because he’s in trouble. With insults, outlandish theories and random numbers,” Mr Zingaretti wrote on Facebook.
The country’s medical community cautioned that Mr Salvini’s comments were inaccurate.
For the gynaecologist Gisella Giampa at the Sandro Pertini hospital in Rome, Mr Salvini was taking “rare cases” and generalising.
“Before speaking, he could inform himself, and, when one wants to be a statesman, not to take his information from one single nurse.”