Rome fined for marking aborted foetus graves with mothers' names
Italy's data protection watchdog on Thursday fined the city of Rome for inscribing the names of women who had abortions on the graves of foetuses.
The scandal first came to light in September 2020 when it was discovered that the graves of aborted foetuses were buried in Rome's Flaminio cemetery without the knowledge of the women, whose names appeared on crosses.
This provoked outrage from women's rights associations and the women involved, who denounced a violation of their privacy.
READ ALSO: 'Ugly act': Outrage in Italy over discovery of foetus graves marked with mothers' names
Citing Italy's ban on disseminating data on terminations of pregnancy, the Personal Data Protection Authority decided to impose a fine of 176,000 euros on the city of Rome and an additional fine of 239,000 euros on the AMA, the public company responsible for managing the Italian capital's cemeteries.
The watchdog body also issued a warning to Rome's primary health insurance fund for breaching the law on the protection of data relating to privacy, by sending the AMA the identity of women who had undergone an abortion.
It also suggested that the names of women receiving abortions should be in future masked or encrypted by the health authorities to avoid any repetition.
"We had to wait a long time, but today justice has been done for so many women and for all those who knew that these wrongs had been committed", said Elisa Ercoli, president of the women's rights association Differenza Donna, quoted by the Italian news agency AGI.
READ ALSO: Why abortions in Italy are still hard to access - despite being legal
The scandal erupted in 2020 when a woman who had had an abortion discovered her name on a cross at the cemetery and then posted on Facebook, a message that soon went viral.
Similar practices were also discovered in a cemetery in the town of Brescia in the north of the country.
Abortion within the first 90 days of pregnancy has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the law allows for conscientious objection among medical professionals.
A majority of Italian gynaecologists refuse on conscientious objection grounds, driven either by religion or societal pressure, while recent moves by right-wing politicians with links to the Church have only increased obstacles for women.
As a result, dozens of hospitals and clinics across the country provide no abortion services at all.
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The scandal first came to light in September 2020 when it was discovered that the graves of aborted foetuses were buried in Rome's Flaminio cemetery without the knowledge of the women, whose names appeared on crosses.
This provoked outrage from women's rights associations and the women involved, who denounced a violation of their privacy.
READ ALSO: 'Ugly act': Outrage in Italy over discovery of foetus graves marked with mothers' names
Citing Italy's ban on disseminating data on terminations of pregnancy, the Personal Data Protection Authority decided to impose a fine of 176,000 euros on the city of Rome and an additional fine of 239,000 euros on the AMA, the public company responsible for managing the Italian capital's cemeteries.
The watchdog body also issued a warning to Rome's primary health insurance fund for breaching the law on the protection of data relating to privacy, by sending the AMA the identity of women who had undergone an abortion.
It also suggested that the names of women receiving abortions should be in future masked or encrypted by the health authorities to avoid any repetition.
"We had to wait a long time, but today justice has been done for so many women and for all those who knew that these wrongs had been committed", said Elisa Ercoli, president of the women's rights association Differenza Donna, quoted by the Italian news agency AGI.
READ ALSO: Why abortions in Italy are still hard to access - despite being legal
The scandal erupted in 2020 when a woman who had had an abortion discovered her name on a cross at the cemetery and then posted on Facebook, a message that soon went viral.
Similar practices were also discovered in a cemetery in the town of Brescia in the north of the country.
Abortion within the first 90 days of pregnancy has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the law allows for conscientious objection among medical professionals.
A majority of Italian gynaecologists refuse on conscientious objection grounds, driven either by religion or societal pressure, while recent moves by right-wing politicians with links to the Church have only increased obstacles for women.
As a result, dozens of hospitals and clinics across the country provide no abortion services at all.
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