Temporary home of the Global Governance Program
based at the University of Toronto
|
Temporary home of the Global Governance Program
|
|
Abortion Absent at Apulia
Julia Kulik, G7 Research Group
June 13, 2024
G7 leaders have assembled in Apulia, Italy, and as with many summits past, it takes place in a location with a symbolic meaning. Because the area is viewed as a bridge between the east and west, the Italian G7 presidency chose it to signal the importance of strengthening the G7's dialogue with countries in the Global South. The key issues faced by the leaders and expected to be discussed over the summit's three days feature the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, relations with China, the heavy debt burdens faced by emerging and developing countries, Africa, climate change and energy security, and ethical artificial intelligence.
The key achievement expected to be announced is a $50 billion loan to Ukraine using the interest from frozen Russian assets, which is designed to arrive in Ukraine before the end of the year. There is much more divergence among the group on the Middle East peace plan proposed by US president Joe Biden and how to address China's industrial overcapacity.
An unlikely conflict that has arisen on the summit's first day is on the communiqué language on gender equality – specifically abortion. Last year, at the G7's Hiroshima Summit, G7 leaders reaffirmed their full commitment to achieving comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights for all. Moreover, they added for the first time doing so "by addressing access to safe and legal abortion and post abortion care." An attempt to strengthen this language at Apulia was reportedly blocked by the host leader, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. This would be an unwelcome step backward for the G7's progress on gender equality, which has only just recently recovered from the G7 summit in 2020, hosted by US president Donald Trump, at which references to gender equality more broadly were completely absent.
While these G7 statements are not legally binding, they do signal to the world that safe and legal access to abortion is a critical contributor to women's health that must be protected, both at home and abroad, amidst various conservative governments' efforts to limit access. These G7 discussions and reported decisions took place at the same time as the US Supreme Court – despite its conservative majority – unanimously rejected an effort to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
It is unclear why Prime Minister Meloni has chosen to push back on this language and not even include gender equality among the G7 presidential priorities, despite a long history of G7 hosts doing so. Has the participation of Pope Francis at Apulia – a G7 summit first – been a factor? Is Prime Minister Meloni, emboldened by the recent outcome of the European Union elections and considered the most popular G7 leader at the table this year, using this opportunity to further appease her base at home? The ultimate impact of this divergence will only be known once that final communiqué is released at the Apulia Summit's end.
This Information System is provided by the Global Governance Program, |