San Marino legalizes abortion; Pope, women's groups disagree
ABC News
Pope Francis has repeated the Catholic stance that abortion is “murder,” a day after the tiny republic of San Marino became the latest Catholic state to legalize the procedure
SAN MARINO -- Pope Francis repeated Monday that abortion is “murder," a day after the tiny republic of San Marino became the latest Catholic state to legalize the procedure, much to the cheers of women's rights groups.
An overwhelming majority — 77% of the 14,384 votes cast Sunday in the microstate surrounded by Italy — favored making abortion legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion would also be legal beyond that if the woman’s life is in danger or if her physical or psychological health is at risk because of fetal anomalies or malformations.
Only 41% of eligible voters cast ballots, but no quorum was necessary and only 3,265 of San Marino's population of 33,000 voted “No."
The Catholic Church had strongly opposed the measure. The Vatican holds that human life begins at conception and that all life must be protected from conception until natural death.
