Report to His Majesty the King from the Minister Keeper of the Seals (Zanardelli) at the hearing of 30 June 1889 for the approval of the final text of the penal code, pp. 145–146. "On the agreed proposal of the parliamentary commissions, the provision that was read in the bill, according to which it was declared 'not punishable the doctor or surgeon, when he justifies having acted in order to save the woman's life, endangered by the pregnancy or by childbirth', was deleted"; "The vote expressed in agreement in parliament led me to the aforesaid deletion, not to exclude the application of the concept that was expressed there, but because it was superfluous and inappropriate to declare it, providing if needed article 49 number 3, the application of which would be only, and without reason, restricted." (in Italian)
Criminal abortion in the Italian penal code, Pasquale Tuozzi, Filippo Serafini Legal Archive, 1902, vol. 10, no. 3, p. 29. "However, if you want to search for a provision in our code that covers the surgeon, in addition to article 45, in which the aforesaid reason is rooted, there is also number 3 of article 49, where it is declared the nonresponsibility of one who acts compelled by the need to save himself or others from a serious and imminent danger to the person, to which he did not voluntarily give cause, and which he could not otherwise avoid. Well, these extremes of the state of necessity all apply in the case of the surgeon, who, put in the harsh condition, not created by him, extinguishes an imperfect and perhaps uncertain existence, to save a certain and real existence, which is that of the woman in childbirth." (in Italian)
