From the BBC:
Pregnant women in northern Italy are to be offered 4,500 euros (£3,700; $5,500) not to have abortions.
The idea comes from the governor of the Lombardy region, Roberto Formigoni, who says no woman should end a pregnancy because of economic difficulty.
The women would have to prove they are in financial hardship in order to qualify for the 18 monthly payments.
The policy has been welcomed by anti-abortion campaigners, but critics have condemned the move as propaganda.
Mr Formigoni, a political ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he wanted to support “the family, motherhood and births”.
The article does not get into much detail about whether Mr. Formigoni is really campaigning for “family, motherhood and births” in any tangible way or whether he is only stating his purpose behind the subsidy. So it’s hard to evaluate the legitimacy of the critics’ charge of propaganda. However, if there really is nothing more than a subsidy involved here, I wonder if these critics would level the same charge of propaganda against a subsidy for abortion.
I also wonder how much this measure has to do with population decline in Italy.
