PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maurizio Mori
TI  - The Italian reaction to the Giubilini and Minerva paper
AID  - 10.1136/medethics-2013-101403
DP  - 2013 May 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 317--322
VI  - 39
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/39/5/317.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/39/5/317.full
SO  - J Med Ethics2013 May 01; 39
AB  - From 28 February to the end of March 2012, the Italian media reacted fiercely to the Giubilini and Minerva paper published in the Journal of Medical Ethics a few days earlier. The first article viewed the proposal as analogous to ‘barbaric invasions’, but in a first stage of the debate it could be seen as a case of the usual controversy between Catholics and secularists. Then emotive reactions prevailed and a flood of papers expressed strong opposition to ‘infanticide’. The authors were even deemed insane; the fact that both are Italian certainly increased interest in the subject as well as surprise at their proposal, which some reckoned to be an insult to their ‘national identity’. Even freedom of academic research and discussion was put in question, and defenders of free debate were accused of being supporters of the theory of infanticide.