ROME, MAY 19, 2002 (Zenit.org).-55,000 children, a veritable «city» of babies, were saved from abortion over 25 years, thanks to the work of Life Assistance Centers (CAV), an initiative of Italy´s Pro-Life Movement.
Last year, at least 4,246 children were saved from abortion — 400 more than the previous year– due to the Italian CAV.
According to Giuliana Saggin, a secretariat worker, «it is reasonable to estimate that the children born as a result of our CAV were close to 6,000 last year. All together, in the 25 years of activity of Pro-Life volunteers, there were over 55,000 children saved, although only 32,4242 are documented.»
Each center saved an average of 33 children this last year, 31 in 2000, and 11 in 1990. 258 were born in Milan´s Ambrosian Center, 192 in Cremona, 166 in Vicenza, 145 in Florence, and 315 in Turin´s three Centers.
The number of women requesting help from the Centers during the first 90 days of their pregnancy, the easiest time for an abortion, increased by 15% over the past year.
The increase in demand has required an improvement in service. In 1990 the number of pregnant women assisted by the 90 Centers were 1,894. In 2001 they numbered 5,843, according to the 127 Centers that provided information.
The secretariat reports that this improvement in assistance on the part of the Centers is due to the fact that they are increasingly known, and that there is a 24-hour free phone line, the «SOS-Life.»
The Gemma project (temporal long-distance adoption of a pregnant mother and her unborn child) also assists mothers in need. Thanks to this project, 987 more children were born in 2001.
Pregnant women with abortion certificates (16%) arrive at CAV, 83% of whom have decided to continue with their pregnancy. Others come to the Centers at the suggestion of friends (27%), parishes and associations (11%), or other women who have lived through the same problem (8%). More rarely, they come from medical consultation centers (6%), although the latter have the obligation to offer them the service of volunteers.
The number of immigrant women is growing extraordinarily. They already constitute 68% of the ones who take recourse to the Centers (16% in 1990). Almost half of them are Africans, mostly from Morocco.
