Tiny San Marino votes in referendum on legalizing abortion

ROME (AP) — Tiny San Marino is one of the last countries in Europe which forbids abortion in any circumstance — a ban that dates from 1865. On Sunday, its citizens can vote in a referendum calling for abortion to be made legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The ballot proposal also calls for abortion to be permitted beyond that point if the woman’s life is in danger or if her physical or psychological health are at risk due to fetal anomalies or malformations.

Women in San Marino seeking an abortion currently go to neighboring Italy, which legalized the procedure in 1978.

San Marino is one of the world’s oldest republics and has a population of some 33,000. The referendum was set for Sunday after some 3,000 Sammarinesi, as its citizens are called, signed a petition drive. About 65% of signatories are women, said Karen Pruccoli, a San Marino entrepreneur who spearheaded the drive.

“We had asked the political sphere to make a law'' legalizing abortion, Pruccoli said in a telephone interview Thursday. “When we realized that the political sphere didn't want to enact a law, we decided to have the referendum.”

No opinion polls have been conducted. If “Yes” votes prevail, San Marino's Parliament will need to legalize abortion.

Antonella Mularoni, who leads the “No” camp, noted that in San Marino, women, including minors, can receive free contraception at pharmacies as well as the so-called “morning-after” pill. But all abortion, for whatever reason, is a crime in San Marino, she stressed, and her campaign aims to keep it that way.

When Sammarinesi go to Italy to access health care that might not be available in their homeland — say, a transplant — their public health service reimburses them, but not for abortion since it's a crime in San Marino.

The “Yes” camp says...