So here have you my first
“real” blog entry. I'm basing the information on a number of
Italian articles on the subject (linked throughout). Consider this an
attempt to spread the news outside Italy.
A remark I often hear when
talking to Italians is that, ”Il problema dell'Italia è che abbiamo la
chiesa a casa”; ”Italy's problem is that we have the church
within our home.” With this they refer to the profound influence of
the Catholic Church and the Vatican on a number of issues in Italian
society, which are elsewhere in the world solved without glancing
towards Papa Ratzinger's opinion on the matter.
An example: emergency
contraception, also known as morning-after pills. In other European
countries you can buy this without a prescription, in some you do
need to shortly speak to a doctor first, before getting a
prescription and perhaps some admonishing words along the way. Where
in Denmark these pills have been sold freely the last ten years or
so, in Italy you need a prescription, and the doctor can refuse to
prescribe it if he or she is a Catholic.
How so? Read more after the jump.