Doctors refuse to perform abortions

Nine out of 10 Italian doctors are refusing to carry out abortions, pro-abortion campaigners say, writes Hannah Roberts.

The Vatican’s control over the country’s health system has resulted in the hiring of doctors who have opted out of performing abortions on moral grounds according to the activists. Pope Francis last month called for doctors to refuse to carry out the procedure, which was banned in Italy until 1978 but is now legal until 90 days’ gestation.

In some areas including Lazio, the district around Rome, where public hospitals are still run by the Church, 91.3 per cent of obstetricians and gynaecologists are objectors, research by the pro-abortion group Laiga shows.