L.A.I.G.A. is an Italian Voluntary Organisation (Organizzazione di Volontariato, OdV) founded in 2008 through the commitment of two gynaecologists, Silvana Agatone and Concetta Grande, who were at the time working in the abortion service at Sandro Pertini Hospital in Rome.

The organisation was created to respond to a concrete and urgent need: building a network of support, exchange, and collective protection for healthcare professionals who apply Law 194/1978 within the Italian public healthcare system, often in cultural, political, and institutional contexts that are hostile or insufficiently protective.

Why this name?

L.A.I.G.A. (also known as Laiga 194) stands for Libera Associazione Italiana Ginecologi Non Obiettori per l’Applicazione della Legge 194/78.

Our official name highlights two key elements:

• Non-objecting (non obiettori): the Italian term used for healthcare professionals who comply with the law and do not refuse abortion care to people who need it;

• Law 194/1978 (Legge 194): the law that decriminalised abortion in Italy and regulates termination of pregnancy.

Our history

Although abortion was decriminalised in Italy in 1978, nearly 50 years later, the healthcare professionals who actively ensure access to this essential service still represent a minority within the public system.

L.A.I.G.A. was established to address this structural imbalance, offering a space for collective action, professional exchange, and political visibility to those who apply the law on a daily basis.

In 2020, L.A.I.G.A. was formally recognised by the Italian government as a Voluntary Organisation (OdV), and its Statute was updated accordingly.
In 2024, the organisation was registered in the National Third Sector Register (RUNTS).

L.A.I.G.A. today

Today, L.A.I.G.A. brings together healthcare professionals of all genders, not only from Gynaecology and Obstetrics, but also from other fields related to sexual and reproductive health.

Our work addresses key contemporary challenges, including:

• ensuring effective access to legally guaranteed rights;

• promoting accurate, evidence-based health information (education and debunking);

• defending the quality of healthcare services by protecting abortion providers and those who make abortion care possible.

In this context, we actively oppose anti-gender and anti-rights movements that undermine bodily autonomy, access to healthcare, and democratic principles.

Something we do: our map

One of our most visible public tools is our map.

For many years in Italy, there was no official mapping of healthcare facilities and staff actually providing abortion services under Law 194. This lack of transparency created significant barriers to access. Our map was created to fill this gap.

In 2025, the ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), the main public research and technical-scientific body of the Italian National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale), published its first official map. However, due to rapid and continuous changes across the country, this institutional map struggles to remain up to date.

Our work is supported by a wide network of activists and organisations that help monitor, verify, and report changes on the ground. We once more here express our gratitude to them.

Since 2026, the focus of our map has evolved. In addition to identifying facilities that provide abortion care, it now also highlights healthcare institutions that operate in violation of the law by offering maternity services while failing to provide abortion services.

This shift is a deliberate political choice. The map is a tool to encourage activists, users, and voters to be informed and to actively demand that public institutions comply with national law.

In line with the 2020 national recommendations to de-hospitalise early medical abortion, we have also included family planning clinics (consultori) where early abortion care is provided. A closer look at the map clearly shows that many regions are still failing to implement these recommendations.

A comprehensive overview of our objectives and activities is available in the section What we do.