The citizens of San Marino have voted in a referendum to legalize abortion, rejecting a 150-year-old law that had criminalized it and making the tiny republic the latest majority Catholic state to approve the procedure under certain circumstances.
Around 77% of voters approved the measure which would make abortion legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The vote will also make it legal for woman to get an abortion beyond 12 weeks if the pregnancy is life threatening for the woman, or anomalies and malformations of the fetus arise that pose a serious health risk to the woman.
One of the world’s oldest republics, the microstate of San Marino had been one of the European states that still criminalized abortion.
Lawmakers in San Marino must now draft the legislation to legalize the procedure.
With its close ties to the Catholic Church, the ruling Christian Democratic Party posed the strongest opposition to decriminalizing abortion.
The party called for a “No” vote to “defend the right to life.”
The influence of the Catholic Church remains strong in San Marino. Last week, Pope Francis reiterated his firm position that abortion is “murder.”
Under San Marino’s law, abortion has carried a penalty of up to three years in prison for the woman and six years for the doctor who conducts the procedure. But despite the nominal total ban, nobody has ever been convicted.
Women in San Marino who choose to get the procedure have typically crossed into Italy, where abortion has been legal since 1978.
“It’s unacceptable to view as criminals women who are forced to have abortions,” said Francesca Nicolini, a 60-year-old doctor and member of the Women’s Union that had called for the referendum.
This new development makes San Marino the second country to decriminalize abortion after the American state of Texas made abortion illegal. The first country being Mexico, also made history by reversing a century old law.
