Abstract

For the very first time, this essay analyzes abortion travels and their arrangement in Italy from a historical perspective, shedding light on a mass and transnational practice. Using a wide range of trilingual sources (archival and iconographic sources, statistical data and scientific journals, newspapers and magazines, radio programmes, etc.) and focusing on the years between 1967 (approval of the Abortion Act in the UK) and 1981 (referendum confirming decriminalization in Italy), the study reconstructs the evolution of the practice and the transnational network (driven by British gynaecologists, Italian emigrants, Italian and French feminist groups) which made it possible for at least 27,813 Italian women to obtain a safe and legal abortion in London. Our aim is to contribute to the transnational interpretation of the decriminalization process in Italy, highlighting two elements: the political influence of the first European decriminalization laws and the plurality of experiences which influenced the Italian second-wave feminist movements