Rome  - Led by the granddaughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, a group of Italian lawmakers moved Wednesday against a government proposal that would pressure doctors to report to the police patients who are illegal immigrants.

The provision "is unacceptable because it goes against basic human rights and in particular those of infants and their mothers," Alessandra Mussolini said.

Foreign parents fearing expulsion from Italy would be reluctant to take their sick children to see doctors, as would pregnant women, Mussolini said.

She and 99 other lawmakers belonging to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, said they had raised the issue in a letter addressed to the premier.

They asked Berlusconi not to rely on a parliamentary vote of confidence to push through a security package which includes the provision.

A vote of confidence requires the backing of all of the government's supporters because a defeat would force the prime minister to resign.

Currently Italian professional secrecy laws prevent doctors from reporting patients to the authorities, unless they suspect them of having committed a serious crime.

The anti-immigration Northern League party has led moves to lift the ban, drawing condemnation from Roman Catholic church officials, opposition political leaders, human rights activists and several groups representing doctors.

But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, who is from the Northern League, has defended the proposal, saying it would bring Italy in line with other European Union countries. (dpa)