(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 13 - There was no mention of the right to abortion in the final draft of the final declaration of the G7 summit in Puglia, which ANSA has seen.
"We reiterate our commitments expressed in the Hiroshima G7 final communiqué for universal, adequate and sustainable access to health services for women, including reproductive rights," reads the draft, which has been finalised by the sherpas but has not yet been examined by the leaders.
The communiqué of last year's G7 in Japan did specifically refer to abortion.
When asked about the failure to mention abortion, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, a senior member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, pointed out that Pope Francis is attending the Puglia summit, the first time a pontiff has taken part in a G7.
""It is not for me to comment," Lollobrigida said in Milan.
"If the presidents of the great nations, heads of state and government, chose not to put it in the document, there will be good reasons for not doing so.
"I don't know if at a G7 meeting where the Pope is also participating, it was appropriate.
"If they chose not to put it, there will be a reason and a more than acceptable reason".
Italian sources said the word abortion had not been inserted because it was already implicit in the terms used on protecting reproductive rights.
(ANSA).