- Title: Joy, relief for campaigners after San Marino votes to legalise abortion
- Date: 27th September 2021
- Summary: SAN MARINO (FILE - SEPTEMBER 14-15, 2021) (REUTERS) TYPICAL FIGURINES OF MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS ON DISPLAY IN SOUVENIR SHOP PEOPLE IN SAN MARINO HISTORIC CENTRE PEOPLE IN SQUARE WITH STATUE OF WOMAN IN THE BACKGROUND ABORTION REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN POSTER WITH PHOTO OF FOETUS AND READING (Italian) "SAVE ME! ON SEPTEMBER 26 VOTE NO" WOMAN LOOKING AT ABORTION REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN POSTERS ABORTION REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN POSTER READING (Italian) "VOTE YES FOR THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE" WOMAN LOOKING AT ABORTION REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN POSTERS ABORTION REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN POSTER READING (Italian) "VOTE NO"
- Embargoed: 11th October 2021 08:57
- Keywords: San Marino abortion campaigner referendum
- Location: SAN MARINO
- City: SAN MARINO
- Country: San Marino
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA002EWHWAX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: There was joy and relief for abortion rights campaigners in San Marino on Sunday (September 27) after the tiny republic voted overwhelmingly in favour of legalising abortion in a referendum, overturning a law dating back to 1865.
Some 77.30% of voters backed the proposal to allow abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and afterward only in the case of the mother's life being in danger or of grave malformation of the foetus.
"We won with a crushing 77 percent for 'yes' - incredible, just incredible. We weren't expecting...no, we were expecting it, but not so high. It's amazing, amazing," said veteran abortion rights campaigner Vanessa Muratori as she cheered and celebrated with others from the San Marino Women's Union as the result was announced.
The turnout was low, with just 41% of eligible voters casting a ballot.
The vote in the northern Italian enclave of 33,000 people comes as authorities in countries like Poland and the U.S. state of Texas have tightened abortion laws.
Earlier this month, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that penalising abortion is unconstitutional.
Up to now in San Marino, women who ended their pregnancies risked three years' imprisonment.
The term is twice as long for anyone who carries out an abortion.
San Marino women wanting an abortion normally went to Italy, where they could only get one privately, at a cost of about 1,500 euros ($1,765).
Elsewhere in Europe, the Mediterranean island of Malta, and the micro-states of Andorra and Vatican City, another Italian enclave, still ban abortion.
In Europe's last referendum on abortion, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar voted in June to ease what remain extremely strict curbs. Ireland legalised abortion in a far higher-profile referendum in 2018.
Social progress has tended to be slow in San Marino.
Women did not get the right to vote until 1960, 14 years after surrounding Italy, and have only been allowed to hold political office since 1974. Divorce was legalised in 1986, some 16 years after Italy.
(Production: Antonio Denti, Cristiano Corvino, Emily Roe) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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