Italy's economy has been in trouble for years now, with young graduates fleeing the country to find jobs, and growth prospects that remain weak. All this could have been prevented if abortion had been prohibited, according to Luigi Negri, the Catholic archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, an archdiocese close to Bologna.

On Tuesday, Italian newspaper Corriere di Bologna quoted the archbishop as saying: "The law against abortion has stopped more than six million Italians coming into the world and the shortage of children has made us fall into this economic crisis," according to a translation by English-Italian news site The Local.

Negri's comments have come as a surprise to many. In January, Italy's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to a record high of 13.4 percent, which was far above the European average of 11.5 percent.

Catholic Italy has had a relatively liberal abortion regime since 1978 and political support for it has remained strong -- partially because illegal abortions had been a major cause of death among women in Italy before the law was passed.

Increasingly, however, women face renewed, if different problems: Some doctors refuse to perform abortions due to moral and religious reservations. The number of medical staff who refuse to perform abortions has even increased in recent years -- forcing pregnant women to either seek help abroad or from friends and family members who are not trained in the medical procedure. Officially, Italy has one of the lowest abortion rates in Europe, but there is an unknown number of secret cases.

Whereas some Italians might agree with Negri's remarks, the comments were harshly criticized by others. According to Corriere di Bologna, in an open letter, the youth organization of Italy's Democratic Party denounced the remarks as “intellectually dishonest."

Critics also cited another provocative remark made by Negri, when he agitated against a law that is supposed to protect gay men and lesbians from hate crimes. "The law against homophobia is a crime against God and against humanity," The Local quoted him as saying.

In a Pew Research poll, 74 percent of Italians said in 2013 that society should accept homosexuality. Support had increased by nine percentage points between 2012 and 2013, whereas public support for abortions remains low in Italy. Only 36 percent of the population said in 2014 that abortion was either not a moral issue or that it was acceptable.

(Washington Post)