# Abortion Referendum (26 September 2021)

URL: https://allhistories.com/sanmarino/timeline/2021-abortion-referendum
Location: City of San Marino, San Marino
Themes: Key Events

Until 2021 San Marino was one of the last states in Europe where abortion was banned in all circumstances. Articles 153 and 154 of the Criminal Code punished women who had an abortion, and those who performed one, with three to five years' imprisonment, although intervention to save the mother's life was tolerated in practice. Women seeking an abortion travelled to Italy, at a cost of 2,000 to 2,500 euros not covered by the Sammarinese health service. An earlier attempt to legalise abortion in 1974 had been rejected. A popular initiative promoted by the Union of Sammarinese Women and supported by the RETE Movement gathered the signatures needed for a referendum, which was opposed by the Christian Democrats and the Catholic Church. It proposed to allow abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, and later if the woman's life was at risk or there were serious foetal anomalies. In the referendum of 26 September 2021, 77.3 per cent of voters were in favour, with 11,119 votes against 3,265, on a turnout of 41 per cent. The result obliged the Great and General Council to adopt a law regulating the voluntary termination of pregnancy, which it approved in August 2022. The vote was widely seen as a sign of the secularisation of Sammarinese society.

## Why it matters
The referendum ended San Marino's total ban on abortion, one of the last in Europe.

Ruler at the Time: [Marco Nicolini and Gian Carlo Venturini](https://allhistories.com/sanmarino/rulers/captains-regent-2021-04)

Secretary of State for Foreign and Political Affairs of San Marino: Luca Beccari (Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 2021 San Marino abortion referendum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_San_Marino_abortion_referendum)
- [Wikipedia — Abortion in San Marino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_San_Marino)
- [BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news)
- [Wikipedia — The Modern Republic (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino)