What does the law 194 of 1978 on abortion provide? Read our in-depth study to understand the explanation of this law in detail
The law 22 May 1978 n. 194 or better known as law 194 governs the method of access toabortion. The latter allows the woman, in the foreseen cases, to have recourse to the voluntary termination of pregnancy (IGV) in a public facility (hospital, outpatient clinic with an agreement with the Region to which they belong) in the first 90 days of gestation, between the fourth and fifth month, only for therapeutic reasons.
Specifically, the IGV is granted to women, as specified in Article 4, “who accuses circumstances for which the continuation of pregnancy, childbirth or maternity would entail a serious danger to her physical or mental health, in relation or to her state of health, or to her economic, social or family conditions, or to circumstances in which conception occurred, or forecasts of conception anomalies or malformationsor “. The gynecologist can practice theconscientious objection.
Law 194 text
Rules for the social protection of maternity and on voluntary termination of pregnancy
1. The State guarantees the right to conscious and responsible procreation, recognizes the social value of motherhood and protects human life from its very beginning. Voluntary termination of pregnancy, referred to in this law, is not a means of birth control. The state, regions and local authorities, within the scope of their functions and competences, promote and develop social and health services, as well as other initiatives necessary to prevent abortion from being used for the purpose of limiting births. 2. Family counseling centers established by law no. 405 (2), without prejudice to the provisions of the same law, assist pregnant women:
a) informing you about the rights you are entitled to under state and regional legislation, and about the social, health and welfare services actually offered by the structures operating in the area;
b) informing her on the suitable procedures for obtaining compliance with the rules of labor legislation for the protection of the pregnant woman; c) directly implementing or proposing to the competent local body or social structures operating in the territory special interventions, when pregnancy or maternity create problems to resolve which the normal interventions referred to in letter a) are inadequate; d) helping to overcome the causes that could lead the woman to terminate the pregnancy.
On the basis of specific regulations or conventions, for the purposes provided for by law, the consultants can make use of the voluntary collaboration of suitable basic social training and voluntary associations, which can also help difficult motherhood after birth. The administration on medical prescription, in health facilities and counseling centers, of the means necessary to achieve the freely chosen purposes in relation to responsible procreation is also allowed to minors. 3. Also for the fulfillment of the additional tasks assigned by this law to family counselors, the fund referred to in article 5 of law no. 405 (2), increased with an allocation of L. 50,000,000,000 per year, to be divided among the regions on the basis of the same criteria established by the aforementioned article.
The expense of 50 billion lire relating to the financial year 1978 is covered by means of a corresponding reduction in the allocation entered in chapter 9001 of the estimate of the expenditure of the Ministry of the Treasury for the same year. The Minister of the Treasury is authorized to make the necessary budget changes with his own decrees. 4. For the voluntary termination of pregnancy within the first ninety days, the woman accusing circumstances for which the continuation of pregnancy, childbirth or maternity would entail a serious danger to her physical or mental health, in relation or to her state of health, or to his economic, social or family conditions, or to the circumstances in which conception took place, or to forecasts of anomalies or malformations of the conceived, contact a public consultancy established pursuant to Article 2, letter a), 405 of 29 July 1975 (2), or to a socio-health structure authorized by the region, or to a doctor of his choice (2 / cost). In addition to having to guarantee the necessary medical examinations, the clinic and the socio-health structure have the task in any case, and especially when the request for termination of pregnancy is motivated by the impact of economic, social or family conditions on health of the pregnant woman, to examine with the woman and with the father of the conceived, where the woman permits, respecting the dignity and confidentiality of the woman and of the person indicated as the father of the conceived, to help her to remove the causes that would lead to the termination of pregnancy, to enable her to assert her rights as a worker and mother, to promote any appropriate intervention to support the woman, offering her all the necessary help both during pregnancy and after childbirth .
When the woman goes to her trusted doctor, he carries out the necessary health checks, respecting the dignity and freedom of the woman; evaluates with the woman herself and with the father of the conceived, where the woman allows it, in respect of the dignity and confidentiality of the woman and of the person indicated as the father of the conceived, also on the basis of the outcome of the above checks, the circumstances which cause her to ask for the termination of the pregnancy; informs you about the rights you are entitled to and about the social interventions you can make use of, as well as about the counseling centers and the socio-health structures.
When the doctor of the clinic or of the socio-health structure, or the trusted doctor, finds the existence of conditions that make the intervention urgent, he immediately issues the woman a certificate certifying the urgency. With this certificate, the woman herself can go to one of the offices authorized to carry out the termination of pregnancy. If the case of urgency is not found, at the end of the meeting the doctor of the clinic or of the socio-health structure, or the doctor of trust, in front of the request of the woman to terminate the pregnancy on the basis of the circumstances referred to in the article 4, issues a copy of a document, also signed by the woman, certifying the state of pregnancy and the request, and invites her to postpone it for seven days. After seven days, the woman can present herself, to obtain the termination of the pregnancy, on the basis of the document issued to her pursuant to this paragraph, at one of the authorized offices (2 / cost). 6. Voluntary termination of pregnancy, after the first ninety days, can be practiced:
a) when pregnancy or childbirth involves a serious danger to the woman’s life;
b) when pathological processes are ascertained, including those relating to significant anomalies or malformations of the unborn child, which cause a serious danger to the physical or mental health of the woman. 7. The pathological processes that configure the cases provided for in the previous article are ascertained by a doctor of the obstetric-gynecological service of the hospital in which the intervention is to be performed, who certifies their existence. The doctor can make use of the collaboration of specialists. The doctor is required to provide the documentation on the case and communicate his certification to the medical director of the hospital for the intervention to be performed immediately.
If the termination of pregnancy is necessary due to imminent danger to the life of the woman, the intervention can be performed even without carrying out the procedures provided for in the previous paragraph and outside the offices referred to in Article 8. In these cases , the doctor is required to notify the provincial doctor. When there is the possibility of autonomous life of the fetus, the termination of pregnancy can be practiced only in the case referred to in letter a) of article 6 and the doctor who performs the operation must take all appropriate measures to safeguard the life of the fetus .8. The termination of pregnancy is carried out by a doctor of the obstetric-gynecological service at a general hospital among those indicated in article 20 of the law of 12 February 1968, number 132 (3), who also verifies the inexistence of health contraindications. The interventions can also be practiced in specialized public hospitals, institutes and bodies referred to in article 1, penultimate paragraph, of law no. 132 (3), and the institutions referred to in the law of November 26, 1973, number 817 (3), and the decree of the President of the Republic June 18, 1958, n. 754, provided that the respective management bodies request it.
In the first ninety days, the termination of pregnancy can also be practiced in nursing homes authorized by the region, equipped with hygienic-sanitary requisites and adequate obstetric-gynecological services. The Minister of Health with his decree will limit the faculty of authorized nursing homes to carry out interventions for the termination of pregnancy, establishing:
1) the percentage of interventions to terminate pregnancy that may take place, in relation to the total number of surgical interventions performed in the previous year at the same nursing home; 2) the percentage of days of hospitalization allowed for interventions to terminate pregnancy, compared to the total number of days of hospitalization that occurred in the previous year in relation to the agreements with the region. The percentages referred to in points 1) and 2) must be no less than 20 percent and the same for all nursing homes. (4).
Nursing homes will be able to choose the criterion to be followed, between the two set out above. In the first ninety days, the interventions to terminate pregnancy must also be able to be carried out, after the establishment of the local social and health units, in public clinics adequately equipped, functionally connected to the hospitals and authorized by the region.
The certificate issued pursuant to the third paragraph of article 5 and, at the expiry of the seven days, the document delivered to the woman pursuant to the fourth paragraph of the same article, constitute the right to obtain urgent intervention and, if necessary, hospitalization. 9. Healthcare personnel and auxiliary activities are not required to take part in the procedures referred to in articles 5 and 7 and in the interventions for the termination of pregnancy when you raise conscientious objection, with prior declaration. The objector’s declaration must be communicated to the provincial doctor and, in the case of employees of the hospital or nursing home, also to the medical director, within one month from the entry into force of this law or from the achievement of the qualification or from the recruitment from an institution required to provide services aimed at terminating the pregnancy or from the stipulation of an agreement with social security institutions that involves the execution of such services. The objection can always be revoked or be proposed even outside the terms referred to in the previous paragraph, but in this case the declaration takes effect one month after its presentation to the provincial doctor.
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