“When the value of the family is threatened because of social and economic pressures, we will stand up and reaffirm that the family is ‘necessary not only for the private good of every person, but also for the common good of every society, nation, and state.”
Abortion was legalized in Italy on May 22, 1978, with the passing of “law 194.” The law made abortion legal for any reason within the first 90 days of pregnancy, and afterward for certain reasons with the referral of a physician.
Since 1978, it is estimated that more than six million children have been aborted in Italy.
Virginia Coda Nunziante started Italy’s March for Life in 2010 after being inspired by attending the U.S. March for Life in Washington D.C.
“Italy was a country of children with large families always and this started to change immediately after the law on abortion,” Coda told EWTN Vaticano.
“Now the data from last year, of 2020, show that we have the lowest birth rate [since] World War II,” she added.
A week ahead of Italy’s March for Life, Pope Francis attended an event in Rome which brought Italian political leaders and company executives together to discuss the problem of Italy’s birth rate, which is one of the lowest in Europe at 1.24.
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In his address at the birth rate event, Pope Francis said that “if families are not at the center of the present, there will be no future; but if families restart, everything restarts.”
Italy currently faces a demographic crisis, as experts predict that the already low European fertility rate will be further affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which has already hit the Italian economy especially hard.
Bishop Suetta said: “We witness with deep sorrow, but also with understanding, the havoc that crimes against life cause within human society, devastating it and depriving it of hope and a future.”
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