Slippery Slope.

Cara at The Curvature has highlighted a case in Italy, where a woman was interrogated, while still under sedation after a legal abortion, and the foetus taken for examination. It was suspected that the women was having an abortion later than the legal limit of twenty-four weeks, although the hospital claim it was at twenty-one weeks and for severe foetal deformities. Now while the state has a right to investigate when it believes illegal activity is occurring, interviewing a women who is still recovering from a medical procedure is at best insensitive, and at worst, a gross violation of her rights. The lack of sensitivity by the state in this case is appalling and it raises the question as to whether we can read her treatment by the police as ‘punishment’ for her abortion. Cara has more details and outlines many of the major concerns about this woman’s treatment. Given the current climate in the UK, where the right to abortion that many women take for granted is under challenge, it is worth highlighting our outrage at this case before it happens here.