One of the best scenes in the Godfather movie trilogy was in "Godfather II," when Kay Corleone (Diane Keaton) told her husband Michael (Al Pacino) she was taking their two children and leaving him. The dialogue:

Michael: Kay, what do you want from me? Do you expect me to let you go? Do you expect me to let you take my children from me? Don't you know me? Don't you know that's an impossibility, that that could never happen, that I'd use all my power to keep something like that from ever happening? Don't you know that? Kay, now in time you'll feel differently. You'll be glad I stopped you now. I know that. I know you blame me for losing the baby. Yes. I know what that meant to you. I'll make it up to you, Kay. I swear I'll make it up to you. I'll … I'm gonna change. I'll change. I've learned that I have the strength to change. And you'll forget about this miscarriage, and we'll have another child, and we'll go on, you and I, we'll go on.

Kay: Oh … oh, Michael, Michael, you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion, an abortion, Michael! Just like our marriage is an abortion, something that's unholy and evil. I didn't want your son, Michael! I wouldn't bring another one of your sons into this world! It was an abortion, Michael. It was a son, a son, and I had it killed, because this must all end. I know now that it's over. I knew it then. There would be no way, Michael, no way you could ever forgive me, not with this Sicilian thing that's been going on for 2,000 years. …

SLAP.

Michael: You won't take my family!

Kay: I will!

Michael: You won't take my family!

And she doesn't.

That spontaneous slap was the reaction of a real man who a woman had just told she aborted his baby. Compare that to the modern day cowardly male response, "It's your choice. Whatever you decide, I'll support you." Or worse, his threat to abandon her if she does not abort.

(Column continues below)

It was this fierce devotion to family that strangely endeared us to the Corleone men despite their otherwise heinous behavior.

In fact, Mafiosos aside, the Italian culture has always evoked thoughts of large, loving families.

No longer. Legalized abortion has poisoned Italy.

According to several foreign or Christian news reports like this one in SperoNews.com:

A 13-year-old girl is in the psychiatric unit of an Italian hospital after a forced abortion. The girl threatened suicide after her parents and an Italian court submitted her to an abortion, against her will.

According to "La Stampa" [Italian newspaper] young Valentina suffered a mental breakdown after Judge Giuseppe Cocilovo of the Court of Minors ruled that she must undergo the procedure to kill her child.

Valentina had become pregnant by her 15-year-old boyfriend and her parents demanded she have an abortion on the grounds that she was "ruining her life" by becoming a mother. Valentina's mother said she did not have the money to support the child.

Under Italian law, the parents or guardians of a minor may force a child to undergo an abortion.

Since the abortion, Valentina has been confined to the psychiatric unit of Regina Margherita children's hospital in Turin for wanting to commit suicide.

"You have made me kill, and now I kill myself," Valentina reportedly cried. "I am not crazy; I am only evil like a dog" for what her parents and the court have obliged her to do, she said.

Other reports stated the girl "went into a frenzy" after her forced abortion. As of Feb. 21, she was still in the psych ward.

This story creates dilemmas for abortion proponents, not the least of which is abortion can cause a mother to crack up. The other side could use this case to say parental notification laws are bad. The problem is they only fight these laws to free a girl to abort. To argue for her right to remain pregnant would be to take our position.

Which is why I could not find this story covered by any American mainstream news organizations, nor did I read of any Italian feminist groups arising to defend this girl's "right to choose."

Meanwhile, Italy is in the throes of a population crisis. The fertility rate is way below replacement levels, one of the lowest of any Western country – 1.33 children per woman.

I wonder why.

---

Related special offer:

"On Message: The Pro-Life Handbook"