Loris Fortuna (22 January 1924 – 5 December 1985) was an Italian politician who was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1963 to 1985 and is best known as an advocate of both civil rights and social rights, and for being among the main promoters of the laws that legalised and decriminalised divorce and abortion in Italy. Born in Breno but raised in Udine, Fortuna was a partisan and member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II. In April 1944, he was captured by the Nazis, tried by a Nazi German court in the Adriatic Coast, and sentenced to forced labour in the Bernau am Chiemsee penitentiary in Upper Bavaria, which he reached in December 1944, and from which he was freed after the war.
In 1946, Fortuna joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI), where he began his political career, working as a journalist by trade and graduating from the University of Bologna. He left the PCI for the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was suppressed by the Soviet Red Army, joining a minority but significant group of former PCI members who broke up with the party over the issue. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1963, he was re-elected five times and remained a member of the lower house of the Italian Parliament until 1985. He served as a minister in the fifth Fanfani government and in the first Craxi government, respectively as Minister for the Coordination of Civil Protection from 1982 to 1983 and Minister for the Coordination of Community Policies in 1985.
Fortuna promoted as first signer the divorce law in 1965 but then decided not to submit it to the examination of the Italian Parliament. In 1970, he decided to present his proposal of law, together with the Italian Liberal Party (PLI) deputy Antonio Baslini, gaining support from the PCI, the PSI, the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI), the Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP), the Italian Republican Party (PRI), and the PLI but opposed by Christian Democracy (DC), which was the ruling party of the First Italian Republic. The Radical Party (PR) and the League for the Institution of Divorce (LID) supported the law outside Parliament. The law, which legalised and regulated divorce in Italy, was then approved on 1 December 1970.
The law on divorce is known as the Fortuna–Baslini Law. The DC tried to repeal it via a national referendum but failed, as the 1974 Italian divorce referendum saw 59.3% of Italians voting in favour of the law on divorce. During the referendum campaign, Fortuna bound up with PR leader Marco Pannella and then joined his party while continuing to be a member of the PSI. The support by the leftist parties, most notably the PCI, was instrumental in preserving the divorce law. Subsequently, Fortuna was a strong supporter and promoter for the abortion law, which was depenalised in 1978 and survived to the 1981 Italian referendum.
Early life Family Fortuna was born in Breno, a comune in the province of Brescia, in the Italian region of Lombardy, on 22 January 1924, the son of Mario and Luigina Dotti. Shortly after his birth, his father became chief clerk at the Udine courthouse and moved there with his family. Fortuna's father later became a representative of the PCI on the National Liberation Committee of Udine.
Education and World War II After graduating from the Liceo Classico Jacopo Stellini, Fortuna participated in the liberation struggle as a partisan in the Osoppo and Friuli groups. Following the example of his father, he was part of the Hunters Battalion, later simply called the Student Battalion because it was made up almost exclusively of students, an autonomous resistance group formed in October 1943 and in contact with Candido Grassi (using the pseudonym "Verdi") and Catholic politicians. Its aim was to "fight with arms against the German invaders" and "overcome the apathy of the population, particularly the student body". The group published the mimeographed periodical La Libertà (The Freedom), edited by Arturo Toso, of which six issues were published.
Around mid-April 1944, the group was disbanded when its main members were arrested, and Fortuna (using the pseudonym "Boris") was found in possession of a suitcase of propaganda leaflets and weapons. He was captured by the Nazi military police and imprisoned on 20 April in the prison on Via Barzellini in Gorizia. Tried for "membership of a secret terrorist organisation" and "possession of weapons and ammunition", he was sentenced at the end of October to three years of forced labor, which he served in the Bernau am Chiemsee Nazi concentration camp (prisoner number 7483), where he arrived with the transport number 161 between 17 and 19 December 1944. He was freed after the war was over.
In 1949, Fortuna graduated in Law from the University of Bologna with a thesis on "The Right to Strike and Non-Collaboration" (Diritti di sciopero e non collaborazione). His early career in the legal profession was closely linked to his political activism. For several years, he served as the legal counsel for the Federation of Agricultural Workers and the Chambers of Labour of Udine and Pordenone. During his career, he also worked extensively as a criminal lawyer, appearing before Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation.
Career From city councillor to deputy In 1946, Fortuna joined the PCI and became involved in the agricultural labourers' and wage-earners' movement. From 1946 to 1948, he edited the weekly Lotte e lavoro (Struggles and Work), through which he waged political and cultural battles, sometimes alongside Pier Paolo Pasolini. Fortuna began his political career as a city councillor, a position he held until his resignation from the PCI in 1956 following the events in Hungary. In 1957, he joined the PSI, becoming its provincial secretary. In the 1963 Italian general election, he was elected deputy for the Udine constituency. He soon showed what would become a constant in his parliamentary commitment, championing a series of legislative proposals for the expansion of civil rights and the full implementation of constitutional principles.
In his first legislative proposals, Fortuna proposed, among other things, amendments to the Italian Civil Code regarding labour relations, to the Italian Penal Code regarding the illegal use of child and female labour, to the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the limits of pre-trial detention, and to the powers and authority of defence counsel to assist and intervene at all stages and levels of the trial. He also proposed a revision of the Italian Military Penal Code during peacetime. All these proposals remained stalled in the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and the same fate befell the first divorce bill, presented by Fortuna on 1 October 1965, on "Cases of Dissolution of Marriage" (Casi di scioglimento del matrimonio). This project, which was immediately dubbed a "small divorce", did not meet the political and parliamentary conditions to move forward, although the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies had begun examining it in a referral capacity in June 1967.
In addition to the clear opposition of the DC, Fortuna's initiative encountered resistance from those within the PSI itself who feared compromising the governmental collaboration between the two parties in question. These reasons of political expediency induced the then PSI leader Pietro Nenni to intervene with Fortuna to persuade him to desist from pursuing the bill. Fortuna then supported a public opinion movement calling for the introduction of divorce in Italy. This movement attracted the support of those legally separated citizens who were barred by the law from forming a new family. The demands of separated couples were embraced by the PR, which had no representatives in Parliament, and by the popular weekly ABC, which encouraged its readers to send postcards to persuade the Chambers of Deputies to discuss and approve Fortuna's bill.
Divorce and abortion laws Fortuna was instrumental in the rise of the legal divorce movement, which was composed primarily of middle-class members directly interested in the introduction of divorce and largely unrelated to political engagement. To give greater impact to this publicity campaign by Fortuna, PR exponents Mauro Mellini and Pannella announced in early 1996 the formation of the LID. The LID—which included prominent members, in addition to Fortuna himself, as well as several secular figures—was active in promoting numerous demonstrations throughout Italy. By the time it held its first congress in December 1967, the movement had gained considerable leverage in Parliament. Fortuna's popularity had grown at the same pace, as demonstrated by the broad support he received in the 1968 Italian general election, despite the negative results for the PSI party lists. Standing in the Milan–Pavia and Udine–Belluno–Gorizia constituencies, he was elected in both, later opting for the latter.
Strengthened by the increased support, Fortuna reintroduced his bill on 5 June 1968, this time signed, albeit in a personal capacity, by 57 other PSI, PSIUP, PCI, and PRI deputies. On 7 October, Baslini and others introduced a similar bill on "Regulation of Divorce Cases" (Disciplina dei casi di divorzio). The bill's parliamentary process was long and troubled. After consideration by the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, two reports were presented: one from the majority, which was in favour of the bill, and one from the minority, which opposed it not only on the merit of the law but also because the introduction of divorce was alleged to be unconstitutional on the grounds that it would violate the Lateran Treaty with the Catholic Church. Fortuna's proposal, combined with that of Baslini, was discussed in several sessions between 29 May and 28 November 1969. The preliminary objections of unconstitutionality and numerous amendments aimed at limiting the grounds for requesting dissolution were rejected, and the text was finally approved with amendments and additions. From 18 June to 9 October 1970, the proposal was debated by the Senate of the Republic, which approved it with further amendments, particularly regarding child protection. As customary, the proposal then returned to the Chamber of Deputies, which definitively approved it on 1 December 1970 as Law No. 898.
The divorce law was named after Fortuna and Baslini. Fortuna's political and parliamentary battle was thus crowned with success, and this experience encouraged him to further commit himself to the affirmation of civil rights and the secular nature of the state in an increasingly close partnership with the PR. In early 1971, together with the PR, he founded the Italian League for the Abrogation of the Concordat. He also argued that the referendum should not be applied to a law like the divorce law since it protected minorities; however, a bill he introduced to support that interpretation was rejected. Re-elected as a deputy from Udine in the 1972 Italian general election, he introduced on 11 February 1973 the first bill for the partial decriminalisation of abortion in Italy. After the 13 May 1974 referendum, which upheld the divorce law, a campaign for a referendum to repeal the laws criminalising abortion gained momentum, promoted by the weekly magazine L'Espresso and the League of 13 May. As a result, Fortuna was once again at the forefront of this campaign. On 1 December 1975, when attempts to prevent the referendum were taking place in Parliament, he resigned as deputy in protest. The referendum was postponed due to the early dissolution of Parliament, which also caused his proposal to lapse.
Government minister