History of Abortion in Italy

As a translation from L’aborto. Una storia, through the tools of political, social and cultural history, this volume traces the history of abortion practices in Italy through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

In 1978 the Italian Parliament approved Law 194, decriminalising abortion practices with precise rules. The law marked a deep break with the past, repealing Title X of the Fascist-era penal code. This volume talks about the past, going far beyond the mere history of the law starting from an innovative periodization that, while focusing on post-WWII Italy (to the present), highlights continuities and ruptures within the liberal age and particularly within the Fascist regime.

History of Abortion in Italy: From Fascism to Present will be of appeal to historians of political history; historians of European fascisms; historians of criminology interested in comparative history as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students, and to readers interested in understanding abortion rights and reproductive health in a global dimension.