Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

ooni.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 180 posts

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#31

Post by altern8 »

lelanthran wrote: post #27
gpderetta wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is indeed legal, but gynaecologists can object to help for conscientious reasons (65% do) and in quite a few hospitals, 100% do object, especially in the south. So in practice access to it is not always that easy.

> So in practice access to it is not always that easy. Understood, but the solution cannot be "allow prescription drugs to be sold online". If access is not easy, there needs to be a different solution.

Sure, but access is easy enough. Not worse than anything else than the government does.

Much better than--let's say--getting an MRI.

Looks like this thread has gotten the attention of weird activists that want to find injustice everywhere and jump to conclusion--as long as the conclusion is women oppressed and censored.

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#32

Post by philipov »

fhdkweig wrote: post #12
philipov wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you need an analogy like that to explain why people want to control women. They want to control women for the same reason they want to control men. Is it any mystery why people seek power? Those with power can decide how to distribute the resources of the society in a way that preferences them and their inner circle. Access to reproduction is one of the most basic resources a society has available. It i…

I don't think they are trying to control men. I'm not seeing any evidence of that. When I see a law that attacks women, it is very clearly targeted towards women, but I don't see anything that clearly targets men.

Controlling women means controlling men. The most basic way to do that is by controlling who is allowed to get married. Attacks against the reproductive rights of women are caused by a desire to avoid "side channels" by which a couple could avoid passing through the systems established to control marriage.

Society became much more complex than a tribal village where the elders decide everything, and so have the levels of indirection in how control of reproduction is wielded. The situation is also quite a bit more complicated now that populations are able to grow so far above the local carrying capacity of the land. Yet we can still trace a line back to when it was necessary for a community to collectively maintain the sustainability of their population by deciding how many children could be supported at any one time.

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#33

Post by throwway120385 »

altern8 wrote: post #13
eur0pa wrote: post #8

Abortion is legal in this country, and any woman can go to the hospital (as in the ER), or at a consultorio familiare to initiate the process. Both options are free of charge and free of judgement, especially the latter. As to why these two websites were rendered inaccessible it beats me, as there are many other local alternatives one may peruse, and they're all accessible. Hell, even the Italian Government Website h…

I couldn't find any information, either. The only thing I was able to find were many posts on Reddit from women trying to get these websites to send them abortion pills. I assume that this might be the reason why they got blocked--or if not a possibility. I don't understand why women would need these websites, there are plenty of free resources like local hospitals and doctors who are generally completely fine with a…

Which medications were they trying to get? Plan B or something that works later?

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#34

Post by chpatrick »

eur0pa wrote: post #20
lelanthran wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As to why these two websites were rendered inaccessible it beats me, as there are many other local alternatives one may peruse, and they're all accessible. Because, presumably, abortion is legal only in specific circumstances (first trimester, I imagine) and these websites are bypassing that. FTFA: > Today, Women on Web facilitates online access to abortion pills I'd expect any website that provides access to non-o…

Ah that does it. Abortion pills are not candies. There's a reason why they are expected to be used in a hospital setting, with medical personnel nearby. If these websites facilitate the distribution of prescription meds, they're no different from other "online pharmacies" and get the same treatment

In Hungary abortion is technically legal but only surgically, and the public health system is mental torture including being forced to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus (thanks to our local fascist party). Women on Web is a million times more humane. It's not like anyone thinks "oh I'm pregnant I'll just pop a pill and it's solved".

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#35

Post by altern8 »

sllewely wrote: post #29
altern8 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like 1 out of 1000 doctors, just go to another doctor. And even if that wasn't the case, what is the government supposed to do about that?

Read the article. It's 67% of registered obgyns and fully 100% of some hospitals. Why would you believe it's 1 of 1000 in a world where countries consistently successfully create legislature targeting women?

Because I'm from Italy and I have women friends and I know that there are a lot of places where you can get a prescription for abortion pills.

We don't need random websites to hand out prescription drugs to kids.

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#36

Post by CamperBob2 »

khalic wrote: post #2

[flagged]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder,_K%C3%BCche,_Kirche

And in the US [1,2]:

2016 election: Approximately 39% to 42% of female voters cast their ballots for Trump.

2020 election: Approximately 44% of female voters cast their ballots for Trump.

2024 election: Approximately 46% of female voters cast their ballots for Trump

Like it or not -- and make no mistake, I don't like it -- many women want this.

----------

1: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/voting-patte...

2: https://www.cfr.org/articles/women-voters-pivotal-role-elect...

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#38

Post by gpderetta »

lelanthran wrote: post #27
gpderetta wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is indeed legal, but gynaecologists can object to help for conscientious reasons (65% do) and in quite a few hospitals, 100% do object, especially in the south. So in practice access to it is not always that easy.

> So in practice access to it is not always that easy. Understood, but the solution cannot be "allow prescription drugs to be sold online". If access is not easy, there needs to be a different solution.

Agree about that. The question is whether all websites providing black-market potentially generous medications are being targeted or specifically just abortion pills. I genuinely do not know, this might be making the news but actually be part of a wide blockage.

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#39

Post by lelanthran »

fhdkweig wrote: post #12
philipov wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you need an analogy like that to explain why people want to control women. They want to control women for the same reason they want to control men. Is it any mystery why people seek power? Those with power can decide how to distribute the resources of the society in a way that preferences them and their inner circle. Access to reproduction is one of the most basic resources a society has available. It i…

I don't think they are trying to control men. I'm not seeing any evidence of that. When I see a law that attacks women, it is very clearly targeted towards women, but I don't see anything that clearly targets men.

> When I see a law that attacks women, it is very clearly targeted towards women, but I don't see anything that clearly targets men.

Drafts? They typically only targeted men, with a large possibility of maiming or death as the result.

Re: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites Women on Web and Women Help Women

#40

Post by geremiiah »

fhdkweig wrote: post #4
khalic wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Controlling reproduction means controlling women. Controlling women seems to be a high priority for crotchety old men. But that doesn't really answer your question, it just rephrases it. I think it is like anorexia. Someone who has no control over their own lives tries to control the few things they can. An anorexic controls their food, but a married man controls his wife and kids. It makes even the weakest person fe…

This is the kind of rational you arrive to, if you spend too much time in feminist circles and never bother to actually try to understand the other side. I can assure you that nobody thinks in terms of "controlling women".
Post reply on HN