Family planning centers and doctors' conscientious objection in Italy: Historical series by region
Starting from 1978, the Ministry of Health in Italy has the duty to compile a report on the implementation of the law for the protection of maternity and for the voluntary termination of pregnancy (Law n. 194, paragraph 6, May 22nd 1978) to the Parliament every year. The report is generally referred to as "Relazione del Ministro della salute sulla attuazione della legge contenente norme per la tutela sociale della maternità e per l'interruzione volontaria di gravidanza - Legge 194/7".
These reports contain regional-level information on the number of abortions, the characteristics of the women seeking abortion and the medical technicalities of the procedures, information on the number of centers for family planning and health available, and the number of medical doctors who refuse to perform abortions due to moral concerns.
The provided data set compiles information from the reports for the different Italian regions for the years 1978 to 2017. It is suitable to study the regional variation over time in the availability of family planning centers and trends in conscientious objection in Italy.