Italian women protest in defence of abortion law (+video)

Photo / Reuters

Groups of women staged protests to defend current legislation on abortion in towns and cities across Italy.

The confiscation of an aborted foetus by Italian police has rekindled a highly charged debate over abortion in Catholic Italy before April's snap elections. So has a centre-right candidate's call for a worldwide moratorium on abortion - a position supported by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Abortion on demand is legal until the end of the third month of pregnancy.

Aside from a 1981 referendum that upheld the status quo, until now there's been little sign in Italy of a public appetite for more restrictive abortion laws.

- Reuters