The Italian Government has announced women will be able to take medical abortion pills up to the ninth week of pregnancy and without the safeguard of being monitored by healthcare professionals in a hospital afterwards.
Previously, women in Italy could only take medical abortion drugs, up to the seventh week of pregnancy, following which they would be monitored for three days within an inpatient hospital setting.
Now, women will be able to take medical abortion pills in a “day hospital” and leave 30 minutes later.
‘An important step forward’?
The change in guidance was announced by Italy’s Health Minister, Roberto Speranza, in a tweet.
According to AP, Italy’s Deputy Health Minister, Sandra Zampa, has been quoted as saying it was time to review the guidelines given that a decade of experience had shown the drug could be safely administered without hospitalisation.
‘A human life is at stake’
The President of the Italian pro-life group Movement for Life, Marina Casini, has stated that the Government’s change in guidelines trvialise the loss of a baby’s life and are being pushed through for economic reasons.
Conservative lawmaker Giorgia Meloni blasted the new guidelines as a step back for women and that the change deprives women of necessary psychological and medical care.
