In one month 1,069 packs containing the abortion pill RU486 have been ordered in Italy, reports Corriere della Sera today.
Tuscany has ordered 318 packs and Lombardy 208 whilst the regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Marche, Molise and Valle d’Aosta have ordered only 5 packs each. Calabria, Lazio, Sicily and Umbria have not yet placed any orders. Interestingly, hospitals in Trentino-Alto Adige have collectively ordered 56 packs whilst those in the Emilia-Romagna region, which has four times as many inhabitants, have ordered only 69.
Hospitals in the Northern League-governed regions of the Veneto and Piedmont have ordered 53 and 148 packs respectively. The governors of these regions originally said that they would never allow the RU486 to be used in their hospitals but in law they do not have the right to make this decision.
A spokesman for the company which distributes the medication in Italy has said that it will be the reorder statistics which will indicate if and where the medication is being used.
Do you think regional governors should have the right to make decisions on abortion?
