Whether intentionally or not, Andrea Bocelli finds himself in the centre of the abortion debate in Italy after a video in which he praises his mother for not having an abortion was placed on youtube.
Bocelli recorded the video in an empty theatre in Milan at the end of October and beginning of November 2009. In it, he sits at a piano and says he is going to tell a little story. The story is about a young, pregnant woman who was admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis. The doctors had to put some ice on her stomach and when the treatment was finished they advised her to have an abortion as her child would be born with a disability. But the young woman refused. Bocelli then reveals that the woman was his mother and that he was the child. In his possibly biased opinion, he says, she made the right choice. He adds that he hopes the story will encourage other pregnant women who find themselves in difficulty. Bocelli ends the video by singing some lines from a joyous song, “Voglio vivere così” [“I Want to Live Like This”].
Andrea Bocelli has congenital glaucoma and was born partially blind. He became totally blind at the age of 12 after being hit on the head during a football game. At the time of his birth, in 1958, abortion was illegal in Italy unless the child was going to be born with very severe disabilities or the mother’s life was in danger.
The video was made to support the work of Father Rick Frechette, a priest and surgeon who works with children in Haiti. Bocelli’s interest in Father Rick’s work predates the Haiti earthquake of January this year. However, the video was placed on youtube by the US pro-life group, “Whole Life Initiative” and it is this which has caused the controversy.
Asked what Bocelli thinks about abortion, his partner, Veronica Berti , told Corriere della Sera that he is very religious, so there was no need for her to answer the question.
