From abortion to gay marriage, civil rights activists in majority-Catholic Italy fear a major backlash with an expected election victory for a far-right party committed to defending “traditional family values.”

Giorgia Meloni, a 45-year-old who has campaigned under the slogan “god, fatherland and family” and against “awakened ideology,” is likely to become Italy’s first female prime minister if her post-fascist party, Brothers of Italy, wins Sunday’s federal election.

“Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby! Yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology! Yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death!” exclaimed Meloni, wild-eyed, in a June speech.

‘Christian mother’ Meloni has attributed the feverish tirade made during a rally by Spain’s far-right Vox party to fatigue – although she said it would ‘change the tone, not the substance’.

A number of left-wing celebrities, including Instagram star Chiara Ferragni, have sounded the alarm about Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and its allies, Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League and Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia.

Pierpaolo Piccioli, creative director of the fashion house Valentino, called on voters last Thursday to defend the rights won in the shadow of the Vatican.

“It is not enough to demand new rights. We have to fight to make sure we keep the ones we have,” he told Repubblica daily, adding he wanted his children “to live in an Italy without fear.”

Earlier this month, a senior member of the Brothers of Italy’s attack on the co-parenting of lesbian polar bears in the Peppa Pig cartoon – a story he described as “gender indoctrination” – sparked both mockery and unease.

Partners Alessia and Eleonora, mothers to a one-year-old boy in Rome, told AFP the pain of not being seen as equals.

“We do the same things as any parent … (but) we’re not recognized as family in Italy,” said Alessia, who declined to give her last name.

The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) says gay marriage and same-sex adoption are priorities, with leader Enrico Letta Meloni recently saying the most important thing for children is “to be loved”.

You need “a father and a mother,” Meloni countered.

The left also wants citizenship rights for Italian-born children of migrant parents – a hotly contested issue.

The Brothers of Italy have their roots in a neo-fascist movement founded to carry on the legacy of dictator Benito Mussolini.

Some of the old guard remain, but Meloni is trying to frame itself as “nationalist conservatives” instead, said Mabel Berezin, an expert on fascist, nationalist and populist movements.

Fears that a Meloni-led government would mimic violations of fundamental principles observed in Hungary or Poland are probably “exaggerated,” the Cornell University sociologist told AFP.

According to Emma Bonino, leader of the +Europe party, the risks could be more subtle.

Abortion became the hottest campaign issue after Meloni said she wanted to give women who were unsure about having an abortion a choice.

“We will not touch the abortion law. We just want (women) to know that there are other options,” she said.

Meloni will likely keep her word not to criminalize abortion, said Bonino, who served in prison for her fight for legalization in the 1970s.

But she fears Meloni will instead “push for the law to be ignored,” compounding an existing problem — difficulty getting abortion pills or finding gynecologists willing to perform abortions.

“There are entire regions where … the gynecologists are all conscientious objectors,” Bonino said — specifically referring to the Marche region of central Italy, which is ruled by the Brothers of Italy.

Meloni’s supporters see her as a symbol of female empowerment – an unmarried, working parent about to break the political glass ceiling.

Laura Boldrini, one of Italy’s most high-profile politicians, said she didn’t think Meloni would “improve women’s lives” at the helm.

“Meloni has never been about affirming women’s rights, valuing women, or dismantling prejudice against them,” she said this week.

Michela Murgia, a writer and political activist, said Meloni is a “violent creature … who has learned to speak in a soothing way” so that “positions that used to be considered extremist now seem reasonable”.

Italy would do well to remember Meloni at the Vox rally, who “appears possessed” and would “bring the same violence to her political rule”.