Divorce, abortion non-negotiable: Italian Deputy PM

Rome, March 26 (IANS/AKI) Divorce, abortion and women's rights are "not up for discussion", far-right Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said on Tuesday, signalling there would be no change to Italy's abortion laws.

"We safeguard Italian families. But divorce, abortion, parity of rights between women and men, freedom of choice for all are not up for discussion," he said.

Salvini's comments came after 40 lawmakers from his ruling League party tabled a bill to make the unborn child a "legal subject" and ahead of a conference in the staunchly Catholic city of Verona this week that will bring together anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-abortion activists from around the world.

The League MPs' bill and the US-run World Congress of Families event in Verona from Friday to Sunday sparked an outcry from the League party's coalition government partner, the populist 5-Star Movement.

Referring to Italy's Law 194, which was passed in 1978, 5-Star leader Luigi di Maio on Tuesday said: "We are clearly talking about legislation that is indisputable."

Di Maio earlier called delegates to the Verona conference "right-wing losers" and said League politicians attending the event did not represent the government but their own political ideals.

--IANS/AKI

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