Il diritto all'interruzione della gravidanza nell'ordinamento italiano al vaglio del Comitato europeo dei diritti sociali

In its decision released on 10 March 2014, the European Committee of Social Rights, as control body over the European Social Charter, has stated that Italy violates the Charter. This happens because the act (“legge”) no. 194, adopted on 22 May 1970, concerning the rules on social protection of motherhood and voluntary termination of pregnancy, in the way it is applied, on the one side, does not respect the right to sexual and reproductive health of women as enshrined in Article 11 of the European Social Charter, and, on the other side, violates the prohibition of discrimination set out in Article E of the same Charter. Hence, the decision reconstructs the extent of the obligations under the European Social Charter in the light of the special needs related to the psycho-physical protection of the woman in the very tricky moment when a pregnancy must be terminated, and in this way, it enriches the more general debate on the woman’s protection, to which the international community already pays attention since some years.