ROME — One of the important under-reported stories of Italy’s recent national election was the decisive rout of Emma Bonino, whose claim to fame is having personally performed some 10,000 abortions.
Bonino’s +Europe party took less than 3 percent of the popular vote, below the bottom threshold necessary to permit a presence in the national parliament, spurring her to demand a recount. The center-right coalition won by a healthy margin, with populist Giorgia Meloni of the Brothers of Italy party slated to become the nation’s first female prime minister.
“There are those who regret the result a little late and in a somewhat hypocritical way, in my opinion, because they knew exactly where they were going,” Bonino said. “Our request for a recount is necessary and due.”
Curiously, Bonino blamed mainstream media for the electoral rout, despite the media’s well-known support of progressive, pro-European parties such as her own. Polls in recent weeks had suggested +Europe easily had enough votes to maintain a presence in parliament.
“I emphasize the negative role of the media and in particular of state or private TV,” Bonino said, insisting that “the level playing field has not been respected by anyone.”
Bonino has boasted of having performed more than 10,000 illegal abortions during her career, devising an abortion machine from a bicycle pump and a pickle jar. The founder of the Center for Information on Sterilization and Abortion (CISA), Bonino agitated for the legalization of abortion in Italy, which was finally achieved in 1978.
A protégée of George Soros, Bonino built a career as a parliamentarian for the Radical Party and later became a European commissioner and Italy’s foreign minister.
George Soros at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting on January 23, 2020, in Davos, Switzerland. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
During her colorful political career, Bonino worked to legalize recreational drugs and promoted nudism, same-sex marriage, transgenderism, the abolition of the armed forces, the disbanding of NATO, and the liberalization of pornography laws.
George Soros, who has invested enormous sums into promoting immigration into Europe, personally awarded Bonino the Fred Cuny prize in 2015.
In February 2016, Pope Francis lavished praise on Ms. Bonino, provoking consternation among the faithful both in Italy and abroad. At the time, Francis called Bonino one of Italy’s “forgotten greats” and compared her to important historical European figures such as Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman.
Pope Francis speaks to engaged couples during a Valentine’s Day celebration in St Peter’s square at the Vatican on February 14, 2014. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)
One local newspaper ran a headline at the time suggesting Bonino had been inducted into “the pope’s Pantheon” of personal saints.
The following year, Bonino was invited to give a presentation on immigration at a Catholic parish church in northern Italy, where she defended the need for bringing more immigrants into Europe.
Father Mario Marchiori, the local pastor, gave permission for the presentation that was sponsored by the local division of Caritas Italiana, while the diocesan bishop, Gabriele Mana, remained silent on the issue.
Pro-life workers who assembled to protest Bonino’s presence at a Catholic parish were reportedly locked out, silenced, or ousted.
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