Popular initiative in Italy to recognise human from moment of conception

"Every human being has the legal capacity from the moment of conception. The patrimonial rights that the law recognises in favour of the conceived are subordinated to the event of birth." According to the people behind the initiative, these lines should be added to article 1 of the Civil Code.

Among them is Senator Paola Binetti. She is a member of the Christian democratic party UDC. That party currently has no seats in the Senate but became an associate party of Forza Italia, being part of the latter's group in the Senate.

Rights of the Child

The text was presented in the Nasiriyah Fallen Hall of the Senate on Friday, on the 30th anniversary of the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Binetti uses a recent example to prove that unborn life is being recognised as life: last Thursday, Italy passed legislation that will provide a single allowance from the seventh month of pregnancy onward. "In the legal feeling of the country, the unborn child is there", says Binetti, according to Avvenire.

The bill has not been scheduled yet. According to Binetti, because it would "represent a punch in the stomach to a culture that has very little to do with the defence of life", according to Binetti on UDS's website. "Furthermore, parliamentary times would not allow us to pass this bill, but we can at least relaunch the debate by pushing everyone to take an explicit position."