Biden presses to keep reproductive rights in G-7 agreement

But Biden, along with the leaders of France, Germany and Canada, pushed for its inclusion, and Biden threatened to not sign the document if it was not included, the officials said. The debate over the communiqué became a major sticking point, with negotiations lasting until 2 a.m. for several nights over the past week, and the reproductive rights language did not get resolved until the very end, according to one of the officials involved.

Under a tentative agreement, this year’s language will not explicitly mention the word abortion, which Meloni may count as a win. However, it will restate the G-7’s endorsement of last year’s agreement, which did use that term. It will also say that the G-7 leaders support universal health-care access for women, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights.

Biden’s aides said the explicit reiteration of support for last year’s communiqué — issued when the leaders met in Hiroshima, Japan — will amount to a broad international embrace of abortion rights.

“The president felt very strongly that we needed to have at the very least the language that references what we did in Hiroshima on women’s health and reproductive rights,” said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks. “The communiqué will have, will reiterate, the commitment made in Hiroshima.”

The communiqué from 2023 said, “We reaffirm our full commitment to achieving comprehensive [sexual and reproductive health and rights] for all, including by addressing access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care.”

An Italian diplomat familiar with the talks acknowledged a give-and-take but sought to play down any differences, stressing that this year’s document is expected to reiterate the leaders’ support for last year’s language.

“There is no victory, compromise or defeat–just a negotiation that has led to an endgame,” said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. “Nobody cancelled abortion,” he added.

Meloni has pledged not to roll back abortion rights in Italy, but has also called for telling “women who think that abortion is the only choice that they have other options.” To that end, her government backed a bill, which passed the legislature in April, allowing anti-abortion groups access to family planning clinics.

In 2021 and 2022, the G-7 agreement did not mention abortion explicitly but more broadly declared the leaders’ commitment to promote and protect “sexual and reproductive health rights.” In 2022, the document also noted “the importance of access to emergency sexual and reproductive health services in humanitarian crises.”

But the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022, which overturned the right to an abortion, reshaped the landscape not only in the United States but globally, as leaders in various countries have felt pressure to promote their positions on reproductive rights. In March, French lawmakers voted to enshrine abortion rights in their country’s constitution.

Biden, a lifelong Catholic, has not been an unwavering backer of abortion rights throughout his long political career, but in recent years he has become a firmer advocate of that position, putting him in line with fellow Democrats. The Dobbs decision has animated Democrats and led to several notable successes by the party in recent elections.

Italian officials stressed that the negotiations around the text were ongoing and subject to change, with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani telling Italy’s Sky Tg24 that characterizations of the final content of the final G-7 resolution were “premature.”

“We’ll see what the agreement ultimately looks like,” Tajani said when asked about the abortion language.

Another factor is the presence of Pope Francis at the G-7, marking the first time a pontiff has attended the event, although his aides said he would not seek to influence the language of the communiqué.

A senior Vatican official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, said, “The pope wouldn’t make such an ask.” But he suggested that Francis’s presence might have inspired the Italians to take a firmer position in illustrating their alignment with the Vatican’s antiabortion stance.

Stefano Pitrelli contributed to this report.