Emma Bonino, Trailblazing Italian Radical Who Legalised Abortion and Divorce, Dies at 78

Emma Bonino, a towering figure in modern Italian political history who spearheaded the Radical Party campaigns that legalised divorce and abortion in the 1970s despite fierce opposition from the Vatican, has died at the age of 78. Her political party, +Europa, announced her passing on Friday, bringing to a close a relentless five-decade career marked by tireless civil rights activism, high-profile European Commission portfolios, and unwavering international diplomacy.

Bonino's death drew widespread tributes across the Italian political spectrum, reflecting her unique status as a polarizing yet deeply respected national architect. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni acknowledged that their starkly different political backgrounds never prevented her from recognising Bonino's monumental role in the country's public life. Over a career that spanned more than fifty years, Bonino served six times as a Lower House lawmaker, twice as a senator, and held prominent ministerial portfolios including foreign and European affairs.

Born in Bra in northwestern Italy in 1948, Bonino entered politics driven by an urgent desire to dismantle oppressive legal structures. At age 26, facing an unwanted pregnancy when abortion was strictly illegal, she travelled to a clandestine clinic in Florence to undergo the procedure. Rather than keeping her experience hidden, she turned a personal ordeal into a public act of defiance by turning herself into the police, sparking a national outcry that propelled the Radical Party into prominence.

Working alongside party mentor Marco Pannella, Bonino utilised civil disobedience, hunger strikes, and aggressive referendum campaigns to drag deeply taboo social issues into the public square. Her efforts culminated in the landmark legalisation of abortion in 1978. In a 2024 interview with state broadcaster Rai, she reflected on her lifelong vocation, stating, "I have been fighting for rights all my life, warning people to defend them, because they don't last forever."

Bonino achieved international renown in 1994 when conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi backed her appointment to the European Commission. She was the first woman to wear trousers at meetings of the male-dominated commission, quickly establishing herself as a colourful, uncompromising presence in Brussels. She took charge of fisheries, consumer policy, and the newly established European Community Humanitarian Office, which she transformed into Europe's primary humanitarian arm.

Her tenure was defined by direct, unflinching engagement with global crises. She travelled extensively to active war zones including the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, and Afghanistan, memorably riding Spanish fishing boats on the high seas during a trade dispute with Canada. In 1997, she was briefly detained by Taliban militia during a fact-finding mission to a women's hospital in Kabul, subsequently condemning the international community for remaining silent on the systematic oppression of Afghan women.

Even after the electoral star of the traditional Radical movement began to fade, Bonino remained a formidable presence in Italian public life. In 2017, she launched +Europa, a liberal, European federalist party aimed at driving deeper continental integration. To younger generations, she became a sought-after television pundit, universally recognizable by the colourful headscarves she wore following her 2015 diagnosis with lung cancer, a disease she eventually announced was in complete remission.

Despite her lifelong anticlerical stance and fierce advocacy for abortion rights, Bonino cultivated a surprisingly warm personal friendship with Pope Francis. In November 2024, the pontiff made an exceptional trip outside the Vatican to visit her Rome apartment following a severe respiratory health scare, bringing her roses and chocolates. Photographs of the pair sitting together on her sun-drenched terrace underscored her enduring stature across Italy's religious and political divides.

Throughout her decades in public service, Bonino maintained a distinctly internationalist worldview that transcended conventional political categorisation. In 2001, she immersed herself in the struggles of Arab women for equality, splitting her time between Rome and Cairo while mastering the Arabic language. Her political ethos was anchored in a profound sense of global citizenship rather than narrow nationalism, famously remarking during a 2025 civic ceremony in her hometown that her local roots only served to make her a citizen of the world.

Though she never married and consciously chose not to have children, citing the immense courage required for such a permanent commitment, her legacy remained deeply intertwined with the institutional framework of modern Italy and the European Union. When asked late in life what battles remained undone, Bonino maintained her characteristic urgency. "Many, too many," she noted, pointing to world hunger, human rights, and free scientific research as tasks that ten lifetimes would not be enough to finish.