Verona’s town council voted to declare the northern Italian city officially “pro-life”.
Councillors approved a motion that calls itself “an initiative to prevent abortion and promote motherhood”. It demands public funding for anti-abortion groups and calls for the council to promote a regional project that encourages pregnant women to place unplanned babies for adoption rather than opt to end their lives.
Despite the fact that abortion is legal everywhere in Italy, and amid protests from feminist groups, the motion was passed by 21 votes to six.
The motion’s backers had also sought to add a proposal that would make it obligatory to give aborted foetuses a burial, even if the woman herself opposed it. However, that move did not make it to a vote.
