Gender equality. Right here, right now?

I originally wanted to post this on the 8th of March, being International Women's Day, but something known as 'real life' got in way. Anyway, I would like to grab the occasion to take a look at how all that feminism* and gender equality is working out. Right here, right now. I have talked about it before, in Spain, and I gave an overview of the situation on the streets of Denmark. But really, where are we?

The Catholic Church and reproductive freedom in Italy, part 2 of 2: Abortion and legislation

First of all, excuse me for the long absence. A full-time job out of nowhere interfered with my plans of spending all day long writing blogs about Italy! But now, on to the second instalment of my theme on the catholic church and reproductive freedom in Italy.

Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978. Due to lobbying from Catholic organisations a condition was put into legislation which allowed doctors to refuse to carry out abortions on grounds of their religious beliefs. This is also the case in other European countries, but after the jump I will get to why it is particularly problematic in Italy.