Monica Bellucci Urges Italians to Vote "Yes"  5/8/05

Screen beauty Monica Bellucci is calling on her fellow Italians to repeal the country's tough fertility laws.

The Passion of the Christ actress is urging voters in Italy to vote 'yes' in the referendum being held on 12 and 13 June(05) to lift the restrictions on the provision of fertility treatment to 'stable heterosexual couples', single women and same-sex couples, research using human embryos and surrogacy.

Bellucci, who became a first-time mother last year (SEP04) says, "This law creates an absurd situation, as if Italian science should stop and leave us trailing behind other countries.

"If I asked a priest or a politician how my body is made, how my ovaries are made or how ovulation works, he wouldn't know what I was talking about."

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the head of Italy's Catholic bishop's conference, wants Italians to maintain the existing law voted for last year (04), as it "does not correspond to the ethics of the Church but it has the merit of safeguarding certain principles and essential criteria".