To find their way around the San Filippo Neri Hospital, women who want an abortion had better be able to read between the lines. The abortion service does exist. It's mentioned, among all the others, at the entrance to this large Rome establishment, located to the northwest of the capital. But then, poof, the name disappears. Once past the entrance hall, visitors are greeted by a single A4 sheet of paper. Plastered against a wall, the sign reads "gynecological surgery" in large letters, then, in brackets and in smaller type, "law 194/78". It is by this number, followed by the year of its adoption, that the legislation authorizing abortion in Italy is commonly referred to. For the acronym IVG (interruzione volontaria di gravidanza) to reappear, you have to wait for the service's door. The head of the department, Marina Marceca, said she again had to fight for this, against the views of the very Catholic director of this public hospital, who was bothered by the designation.

These semantic qualms have no bearing on the way patients are cared for at San Filippo Neri. Unlike many others in a country where public health is underfunded, the facility boasts modern obstetrics and gynecology technical facilities. But they speak volumes about the stigma still surrounding abortion in Italy, 46 years after its legalization. All too often the victims of humiliation at the hands of medical staff – "You should have thought of that before," patients are sometimes told – many women decide not to have an abortion but also refrain from talking about it, for fear of being blamed.

The pressure exerted by so-called "pro-life" NGOs, usually Catholic, is a major factor in this climate of anxiety. Some even manage to get into public hospitals, with the blessing of the authorities, to offer "emotional support" to women and, of course, try to dissuade them. In Italy, the number of abortions performed in 2021 (latest figures from the Ministry of Health) was 63,653, 20,000 fewer than in 1988 and 171,000 fewer than in 1982, a record year. "There are 5.3 abortions per thousand women aged 15 to 49, compared with 9.4 in 2000 and 8 in 2009," Marceca pointed out. "This is one of the lowest rates in Europe."

The downturn does not correspond to an increase in the desire for children, as demonstrated by the famous "demographic winter" from which Italy is suffering. With 400,000 births in 2022, for 700,000 deaths, Italy could lose 20% of its population by 2070. Nor is it directly correlated with the late 2022 election of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, from the ranks of the post-fascist Fratelli d'Italia party. In fact, it preceded it.

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