Biden and Meloni meet on sidelines of G7 summit, but one notable issue wasn’t on the table: abortion

BORGO EGNAZIA, Italy (AP) — President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had a lot to say Friday when they met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, but one notable topic was not on the table: it’s abortion. , an issue that has emerged as an unexpected point of friction between the democracies meeting in Italy.

Meloni’s right-wing government moved this week to water down references to abortion in the final declaration issued by all G7 countries at the end of the summit, sparking disagreement among nations over the wording of the final draft on their common commitments. That’s according to two senior U.S. officials, a senior European Union official and two other officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a statement that has not yet been released. made public.

The draft omits the word “abortion” but refers to the need to promote “reproductive health and rights,” according to a copy of the text obtained by The Associated Press.

A White House report on the Biden-Meloni meeting made no reference to the issue and instead highlighted their joint efforts to “deepen the U.S.-Italy partnership on a range of vital security, economic and regional issues.” He cited Meloni’s “unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war of aggression, including crucial security assistance from Italy.”

White House officials say the two leaders work well together despite Meloni’s views on abortion and his other conservative political views, which align more with those of Republicans in the United States.

The summit highlighted the evolution of their relations since Meloni came to power in 2022 as head of Italy’s first far-right government since the end of World War II. Shortly after Meloni’s victory, Biden warned of the rise of far-right populism in Europe and the United States.

Those concerns have eased thanks to Meloni’s strong support for Ukraine, at a time when the commitment of some other far-right leaders is waning. Meloni also announced Thursday that Italy would participate in a U.S.-led investment effort in Africa, as part of the Lobito rail corridor. This is a clear gesture of US support following Italy’s withdrawal from China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Biden first “used Meloni’s candidacy as a warning to transatlanticists on both sides of the Atlantic,” Rachel Rizzo, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s European Center in Washington, said before the summit. “But his tenure as prime minister was actually quite forward-thinking in terms of Italian support for Ukraine and in terms of Italian support for NATO. This relationship has therefore developed in a rather positive direction.

On the issue of abortion, the upcoming G7 final declaration will say nations reaffirmed their commitment at the 2023 summit in Japan to “universal access to adequate, affordable and quality health services for women, including full sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. »

That 2023 text, however, also made clear that nations were reaffirming their “full commitment” to full sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, “including addressing access to safe and legal abortion and healthcare.” post-abortion”.

The final summit declaration is a lengthy document covering many issues and it often takes wrangling to get all leaders comfortable with the final language. French President Emmanuel Macron said he regretted the decision to omit the word abortion.

“It’s not a vision shared across the political spectrum,” he said. “I regret it, but I respect it because it was the sovereign choice of your people,” he told an Italian journalist on Thursday.

The U.S. delegation expressed satisfaction with specific references to the 2023 summit in Japan, which affirmed the right to abortion care.

But abortion access is a major goal of Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign, as Democrats seek to motivate voters concerned about worsening medical care for women since the U.S. Supreme Court canceled the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. About half of 50 states now restrict access to abortion, and the topic has expanded to include access to emergency medical care, contraception and in vitro fertilization.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has repeatedly taken credit for overturning a federally guaranteed right to abortion — after naming three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade – but he resisted his support for a national abortion ban and said he wanted to leave the issue to the states.

Biden, a Catholic, has experienced a decades-long evolution on abortion rights that has, in some ways, mirrored changing attitudes in the Democratic Party. He once opposed federal funding for abortion services, but his administration worked to protect access, suing states where women couldn’t get care. But he doesn’t often say the word “abortion” himself.

The implications of Roe go beyond what the word “abortion” generally means in the United States: the ability to end an unwanted pregnancy. Biden’s campaign has sought to use these ripple effects to reach a broader voter base, and also typically uses words like “reproductive rights.”

In Italy, Meloni, who campaigned on the slogan “God, Fatherland and Family”, prioritized encouraging women to have babies to reverse Italy’s demographic crisis. Abortion has been legal since 1978, and she insisted she would not repeal the law and simply wanted to fully implement it.

But his forces recently passed a law allowing anti-abortion groups access to women considering abortion at public health centers where they go for counseling. For those on the right, the amendment simply addresses the original intent of the 1978 law legalizing abortion, which included provisions to discourage the procedure and support motherhood.

For the left-wing opposition, the decision nullifies the right to abortion, which opponents had warned would follow Meloni’s election in 2022.

And the G7 communiqué is another sign. In a statement Thursday, Italian Democratic Party leader Elly Shlein said the reported text constituted a “national embarrassment” because it calls into question a fundamental right of women.

Pope Francis was at the summit Friday and Biden was scheduled to meet with him privately. During the president’s final audience with the pope in 2021, Biden said Francis told him, “I was a good Catholic and I should continue to receive communion.”

The next night, he went to Mass in a church in Rome and took communion, proof that even in the pope’s diocese, Biden’s stance on abortion was no obstacle to receiving the Holy Last Supper.

At the same time, Francis is strongly opposed to abortion, likening it to “hiring a hitman to solve a problem.”

Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.