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STORY: When Linda Feki from Naples shared her experience of stigma and abuse while undergoing her abortion on social media, many Italian women offered their support.

But the 33-year-old singer says she also faced criticism and insults, revealing intensifying national divisions over reproductive rights under Prime Minister Georgia Meloni's leadership.

''I felt a kind of responsibility as a citizen, but also as an artist, to convey the message that abortion is a right.”

Feki first visited Naples' San Paolo hospital, where a gynecologist questioned whether she really wanted to abort.

The doctor also claimed her pregnancy was further along than would have been possible, given when she last saw her long-distance partner.

A subsequent scan from another a private gynecologist confirmed the pregnancy was at an earlier stage.

The head of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at San Paolo said he was sorry to hear that Feki had a bad experience and would meet her to clarify the situation.

When she finally underwent the procedure at the Cardarelli hospital, the singer said she was immediately reprimanded about her pregnancy.

"This hurts, it pisses me off because there should be no judgment towards a choice that should be and is our right."

A spokesman for the Cardarelli hospital said it was in contact with Feki to discuss the matter, which she confirmed.

Abortions in Italy are legal within the first three months.

Beyond that period, they are permitted if the mother's mental or physical health is seriously endangered.

But bureaucratic, cultural and practical obstacles all get in the way.

Health ministry data shows that about 63% of gynecologists across Italy are officially known as "conscientious objectors" and refuse to be involved in abortions on ethical grounds.

The figure rises to more than 80% in parts of the south.

"I knew about the conscientious objectors but naively I was sure of my choice and this made me unaware of the difficulties I later encountered. I was not ready, even though I knew the situation.''

Anti-abortion groups are a vocal force in Italy with strong connections to several lawmakers in the ruling coalition.

Jacopo Coghe, a spokesperson for "We Choose Life", said divisions in society had intensified.

"We deeply believe that abortion is something that must become unthinkable (...) We believe that abortion represents the suppression of an innocent human being.”

Elisabetta Canitano is a gynecologist and abortion rights advocate from Rome.

She says those urging a woman to keep an unwanted child "have no idea of the hell they are pushing her into."

“The embryo is not the master of women's bodies.”

Meloni is Italy's first female prime minister, steering a conservative government since 2022.

Despite being personally opposed to abortion, she vowed not to change or abolish the 1978 law that legalized it.

Instead, she insists on what she calls a fuller implementation of the law, noting that it also deals with prevention.

"It's not that I'm in favor of abortion, I'm in favor of freedom over the choice a person can have in their life."