ROME, Italy — Emma Bonino, the veteran Italian politician and civil-rights campaigner whose decades of activism helped reshape the country’s laws on abortion and divorce, died Friday at 78.
Her death was announced by +Europa, the political movement she helped establish. Bonino had been hospitalized in Rome earlier in the week after suffering a serious health crisis before being transferred to a private medical facility.
Bonino spent more than five decades in Italian and European public life, moving from radical street activism into senior government and European institutions.
A career built around civil rights
Bonino became nationally known in the 1970s through the Radical Party’s campaigns for abortion and divorce reform in predominantly Catholic Italy.
Her activism intensified after she underwent an illegal abortion in 1974. She later publicly acknowledged the procedure and turned her experience into a campaign against Italy’s restrictive abortion laws. The movement contributed to the legalization of abortion in 1978.
She used civil disobedience, hunger strikes and political campaigns to advance causes ranging from women’s rights and reproductive freedom to opposition to the death penalty, hunger and authoritarianism.
Her political career eventually extended well beyond the Radical movement. Italy’s Senate records show that she served in multiple terms in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, including as a senator from 2008 to 2013 and again from 2018 to 2022.
From activist to senior official
Bonino also became an influential figure in European politics.
She served multiple terms as a member of the European Parliament, beginning in 1979, and later became a European commissioner during the 1990s. European Parliament records document her parliamentary service and work on areas including foreign affairs, human rights, public health and consumer protection.
She subsequently held senior positions in the Italian government, including foreign minister from 2013 to 2014.
Her international activism included campaigns against the death penalty and female genital mutilation, as well as efforts involving humanitarian crises and international justice. She also advocated for greater European integration and helped establish +Europa as a pro-European political force.
A distinctive voice in Italian politics
Bonino remained politically active long after leaving government office.
She was known for an outspoken style and for maintaining positions that sometimes placed her outside Italy’s major political blocs. Her advocacy for individual rights often brought her into conflict with conservative and religious groups, while her support for European integration and liberal reforms made her a distinctive figure within Italian politics.
Italy’s Senate paid tribute to her on Friday, with lawmakers recalling her early civil-rights campaigns and later transition into senior institutional roles.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also acknowledged Bonino’s importance to Italian public life despite their political differences.
Legacy in Italy and Europe
Bonino’s political influence extended across issues that once occupied the margins of Italian public debate.
The abortion and divorce campaigns of the 1970s helped drive major changes in Italian law and society. Her later work placed greater emphasis on human rights, international justice, European integration and individual liberties.
Her career also reflected an unusual transition from protest politics to institutional leadership. She served as a legislator, European parliamentarian, government minister and European commissioner while continuing to campaign on issues outside formal government structures.
Bonino’s death closes a political career that spanned an era of profound change in Italy and Europe. Her supporters regarded her as a persistent defender of individual freedom, while even political opponents acknowledged the scale of her influence on Italian public life.
Reporting Credit: +Europa — official announcement of Emma Bonino’s death and statement on her political legacy; Italian Senate — official parliamentary records documenting Bonino’s legislative career and institutional positions; European Parliament — official records of her parliamentary service and European political career.
