Image source, Ettore Ferrari/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
- author, Katherine Armstrong
- role, BBC News
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the alleged controversy over the absence of the word “abortion” in the G7 statement had been exaggerated.
He was responding after G7 nations pledged last year to address access to “safe and legal abortion” but the pledge was not included in the final communique from their summit in Italy this year.
Both France and the United States were reportedly engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war with Italy over whether to mention abortion in the final statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier said he was “sorry” about the omission and that while France had voted to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, Italians did not have “the same sensibility.”
But Meloni said at a press conference on Saturday that he believed the dispute was “totally fabricated” and that there was nothing to discuss at the summit.
“We reaffirm our full commitment to achieving comprehensive human rights protection,” said a statement issued after last year’s summit in Hiroshima, Japan. [Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights] “Ensuring safety for all, including by addressing access to safe, legal abortion and post-abortion care.”
In response, this year’s statement said: “We reiterate our commitment in the Hiroshima Leaders’ Statement to universal access to appropriate, affordable and quality health services for women, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.”
Melloni said the reason for omitting mention of abortion in the new document was entirely normal and an attempt to keep the document from becoming too repetitive.
“The final documents of these sessions usually don’t repeat things that are already taken for granted,” she said.
“I sincerely believe that this controversy [around abortion] It is a completely contrived and, in fact, a controversy that did not exist at the summit, that did not exist in our discussions, because there was nothing to discuss.”
The G7 is a group of the world’s seven richest countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – that meet to reach agreements and issue joint statements on world affairs.
The summit, hosted by Italy in the southern region of Puglia, was also attended by representatives of other countries including Turkey, India and Ukraine.
A US official told The New York Times that US President Joe Biden had reportedly not wanted Meloni to include the words “abortion” or “reproductive rights” in the statement and objected.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Italian news agency Ansa that he was “disappointed” that no mention of abortion was included.
“France has a vision of gender equality, but it is not a vision shared by people of all political stripes,” Macron said.
Meloni said he thought it was “totally wrong” for Macron to use the G7 summit to campaign for the French general election.
Image source, CIRO FUSCO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Abortion is not the only issue that is reportedly at odds between France and Italy, with diplomatic sources telling AFP that Italy is furious that France announced a new $50 billion loan for Ukraine before it was fully confirmed.
As Macron arrived at a state dinner on Thursday night, Meloni was seen giving the president a cold glare, a tension that was picked up on by many on social media.
Meloni’s brother-in-law, Francesco Lollobrigida, the current agriculture minister, questioned whether it was appropriate to mention abortion in the final G7 statement attended by the pope.
“If they [the G7 countries] “There must be a reason, and a more than acceptable reason, for choosing not to include it,” he said.
Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, has never publicly spoken out against abortion, and before being appointed prime minister in 2022 he vowed to “give women who think abortion is the only solution the right to make another decision”.
Abortion is technically legal in Italy, but access to it remains precarious as many medical workers identify themselves as “conscientious objectors” and can refuse to perform abortions.
