A noted Italian actress who starred in Flash Gordon and other films has said she withstood pressure from her mother and agent to abort her oldest daughter for the sake of her acting career.
Ornella Muti, 68, is an Italian actress who has starred in over a hundred TV shows and films, including the 1980 cult classic Flash Gordon, in which she played the role of Princess Aura.
Speaking recently, Muti related how as a young actress she was pressured to abort a child, whom she later gave birth to when she was aged 18.
“It wasn’t so easy”, Muti recalls. “My mother asked me: even if abortion was illegal in Italy, it could be done without problems abroad.”
Her agent also encouraged her to have an abortion because Muti had to make a film. “Would I have to have an abortion to make a movie? Absolutely not! So I decided to carry the pregnancy to term… and Naike was born.”
Naike Rivelli, now 48, has since gone on to become an actress and singer.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Muti’s testimony is a powerful rebuke of the narrative of so many young actresses who have pushed the mistaken narrative that abortion is necessary for a successful career.
“But nothing is empowering about sacrificing a child on the altar of fame and fortune, which is what many so-called ‘feminists’ preach, including Joan Collins who claimed that a child she aborted would have ‘ruined’ her life.
“Yet we should not underestimate the pressure that many women come under to have abortions, often from men. As actress Charisma Carpenter recently claimed, noted Hollywood producer Joss Whedon pressured her to abort her baby.
“For those women who stood their ground, they never regretted protecting the right to life of their children, as well as their right to be mothers.”
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