"Doctors who perform abortions are murderers." A female doctor responds to the Pope's statement
"Abortion is murder. Science says that from the month of conception all the organs are there. A human being is killed. And the doctors who do this are killers. They are killers. And there is no room for any debate on this matter. A human life is taken. And women have the right to protect their lives," said the Pope.
Silvana Agatone, gynecologist and president of Laiga, the Italian Free Association of Gynecologists for the Implementation of Law 194, responds to the words uttered by Pope Francis.
Pope Francis said these words not long after the International Day for Safe Abortion, which is celebrated on September 28, during which various reports showed how difficult it is in Italy for a woman to have a voluntary termination of pregnancy, despite this is a right established by law 194 of 1978. The same data from the Ministry of Health picture a healthcare landscape in which at least 7 out of 10 gynecologists are against abortion. In an already complex context, where politics itself does not ease women's path to abortion with consequences for mental health as well, as the World Health Organization itself has explained, Pope Francis' words hit a category that is already deeply in crisis: that of doctors and health care workers. In particular those who do not object, who do nothing but enforce a law that has existed in Italy for more than forty years.
"Health workers are already scarce, they are understaffed, they are already targeted by an angry population, because health is in a state of disrepair, because of politics, and people vent their frustration on the only ones who can find them nearby, that is, with health workers. A language that incites hatred and judgment does not create peace", comments Silvana Agatone, gynecologist and president of Laiga, the Italian Free Association of Gynecologists for the Implementation of Law 194.
"The word 'killer' is itself violent for doctors and medical staff. I would very much like to see lives saved, for example by closing down weapons factories or entering into contexts of wars. We are doctors who implement a law that Catholic citizens have requested through referendum. What does judgment have to do with religion? We gynecologists who do not object by listening to the citizens have learned not to judge".