Italy demands that the final G7 statement not mention abortion. Meloniová has been pre-ordered

Italy has reportedly asked for references to safe and legal abortion to be removed from the final statement of the G7 summit. We are informed of this based on a report by Reuters, which cited unnamed diplomats.

The official G7 statement for 2023, released after the leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, Japan, called for “access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care.” French and Canadian diplomats reportedly proposed similar language in negotiations ahead of this year’s summit in Italy.

All other countries supported the proposal, but Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meroni disagreed, which is why it was missing from the final text, a diplomat told Reuters.

However, the Italian Prime Minister’s Office claimed that no country had asked to exclude “issues related to abortion” from the draft conclusions. Italian Foreign Minister Tajani said that negotiations are still ongoing and it is useless to make predictions at this time.

U.S. President Joe Biden does not want abortion to be mentioned in the text, according to a senior U.S. diplomat.

“The president felt that we needed to at least have language that mentioned the work we did in Hiroshima on women’s health and reproductive rights. The communique reaffirmed the commitments made in Hiroshima,” the diplomat said.

A few years before the Hiroshima Summit, the G7 communiqué mentioned the importance of protecting women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The right to safe abortion is considered a fundamental attribute as part of the importance of protecting sexual and reproductive health and women’s rights, and it is unclear whether Italy’s final declaration, which could be released on Friday, will return to that language.