Right to abortion: the campaign rages in San Marino

Side by side shock posters for yes and no … On September 26, in less than two weeks, the 33,000 inhabitants of San Marino will vote on the authorization of abortion up to 12 weeks of age. pregnancy An explosive referendum that divides this micro-mountainous landlocked in north-central Italy where the Catholic Church is omnipresent.

“It is said that abortion does not exist in San Marino. Women are going to have an abortion outside our country, in Italy. They do it illegally because abortion is a criminal offense here. It is all shameful. “, explains Rosa Zafferani, member of the Union of Women of San Marino (UDS).

UDS activists stuck posters of this already very tense campaign on billboards in the capital, the outcome of which is uncertain, in the absence of polls, too expensive to organize.

“Vote yes, for freedom of choice” and “to come out of hiding,” proclaims a sign. “Even at 12 weeks I am a child, save me!” retorts a shocking poster featuring the image of a fetus. “I am an anomaly. Do I have less rights than you?”, Pleads a young person with Down’s syndrome over another.

San Marino is one of the last states in Europe, along with Malta, Andorra and the Vatican, to totally ban abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, fetal disease or danger to the mother.

But the anti-decriminalization of abortion is also very much raised, like Rocco Gugliotta, 24-year-old handler:

“Why should the mother alone decide? A couple is made up of a mother and a father. Why does it always have to be the mother alone who decides? Does the father have no decision-making power? The pregnancy should be carried to term without an abortion. If you really don’t want the baby, there is the option of getting him adopted. “

The ban on abortion in San Marino dates back to 1865. It is a crime punishable by imprisonment of up to three years for the woman and six years for the doctor who performs it.

Attempts to legalize abortion over the past 20 years have been vetoed by successive governments. It must be said that San Marino, very conservative, only gave women the right to vote in 1964 and that divorce was not introduced until 1986.