Foetus Seized in Abortion Inquiry

Police entered a hospital in Naples, interrogated a woman who had just had her pregnancy terminated, and impounded her aborted fetus after a tip-off from a caller who claimed she was having the abortion outside the legal time limits.

In an interview with the paper La Repubblica the woman, known only as Silvana, said: "I didn't understand what was happening. I was still under the effects of the anesthetic. They bombarded me with questions. They gave me the third degree: how did it happen, why did I have an abortion, who was the father?"

In fact, as doctors later confirmed, her pregnancy was terminated in its 21st week, which was within the period allowed by Italy's 1978 abortion act. The doctors also said that tests had shown the fetus had grave abnormalities.

The incident involving the woman, who said she had wanted the child "at all costs" and only reluctantly agreed to the termination, comes as the subject of abortion looks set to play an important role in Italy's general election in April.

Commenting on the incident in Naples, Livia Turco, the health minister in the outgoing center-left government, said: "The witch hunt is on. What happened mirrors the intolerable climate of tension surrounding one of the most dramatic choices for a woman."

Doctors in Italy can legally perform abortions until about the 24th week if the mother's life is at risk or the fetus is seriously malformed. But critics say the law should be more restrictive since medical advances make it possible for babies born earlier than this to survive.

Giuliano Ferrara, who edits a newspaper supported by Silvio Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, has called for the UN to declare a moratorium on abortions, a cause endorsed by Berlusconi himself this week. Like Berlusconi, Ferrara will be standing for parliament at the general election, but at the head of an independent, anti-abortion party.