Referendum on abortion in San Marino: the "yes" wins by more than 77% (final results)

The tiny republic of San Marino, landlocked in central Italy, voted on Sunday in a referendum by a large majority in favor of legalizing abortion.

In total, 77.28% of voters in this micro-country with a strong Catholic tradition approved the option of giving women the free choice to have abortion up to twelve weeks of pregnancy and after this period in cases of threat to the life of the mother or deformities detected in the fetus.

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San Marino was one of the last states in Europe - along with Malta, Andorra and the Vatican - to ban abortion entirely, even in cases of rape, incest, fetal disease, or danger to life. mother. Abortion was a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years for the woman and six years for the doctor who performs it. But, in fact, there have never been any convictions because the San Marino women go to Italy to have an abortion, thus circumventing the law.

The referendum, the result of which is binding and not purely consultative, was organized at the initiative of the Union of San Marino Women (UDS), a feminist association of the 70s / 80s resuscitated in 2019. In total, 35,411 voters were called to vote, a third of whom were abroad.

The participation rate was 41.11%.