Italy refused to add a reference to “safe and legal abortion” in the final statement of last week’s Group of Seven summit.

French president Emmanuel Macron complained of the omission, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who accused him of looking to score political points ahead of national elections in France later this month.

The 2023 G7 communiqué released after the leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, Japan, last year, had called for “access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care”.

Similar or slightly tougher language was proposed by French and Canadian diplomats during the negotiations that took place ahead of the 2024 meeting, but Meloni refused.

“I think it is profoundly wrong, in difficult times like these, to campaign [for an election] using a precious forum like the G7,” Meloni told reporters.

A senior US official told reporters that President Joe Biden had also wanted the reference to abortion in the text.

Like Macron, Biden is also facing a tough election later this year.