In San Marino abortion becomes legal: “Today is a historic day for all women”
«A Fausta! A Fausta! ” the toast of victory is broken by the moving memory of Fausta Morganti: a gin and tonic in honor of the passion of San Marino activists to celebrate a historic milestone. In fact, since 31 August, the Republic of San Marino has its 194.
With 32 votes in favor, 7 against and 10 abstentions, the Great and General Council of the Republic has decriminalized voluntary termination of pregnancy. With law 21, no woman can be indicted anymore for a right that is finally recognized.
The law comes a year after the referendum, seat of the Union of San Marino Women (Uds) with which 77.3 percent of citizens – including young people, many out and many who returned for the occasion – had expressed their yes to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy: «Nevertheless, we didn’t stop. We knew that the work was only at the beginning “points out Rosa Zafferani, UDS activist, a past as Captain Regent and Secretary of State:” In recent months we have organized a conference with professionals and international representatives, from psychologists to doctors to jurists, to give a vision as complete as possible and to help the parties to draft a law, “he explains.
San Marino said yes: abortion becomes legal. “A historic day for women’s rights”
Chiara Sgreccia
Today the law has come, at the end of a grueling negotiation between the political parties. Vanessa Muratori, former parliamentarian and historic UDS activist, explains: “With the numbers that were in the Council, it was difficult to have a more advanced law because the conservative component was a majority and there were amendments that made us fear in a worse lawlike the one that provided for anti-abortionists inside the clinic ».
If during the entire referendum campaign last year, the Christian Democrats and the San Marino Catholic Church had given indications for voting, inside the palace the conservative fringe tried to mitigate the law with confessional referenceshowever, showing the distance from the will of the city, which the referendum itself had asked for a change in favor of women’s rights of choice: “The law that came out – continues Muratori – is, in any case, a dignified compromise, because all the elements are removed confessional, in the mandatory counseling center, all staff will be non-objecters and the IVG application can be forwarded without the physical presence of the woman“.
San Marino said yes: abortion becomes legal. “A historic day for women’s rights”
Chiara Sgreccia
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Indeed, the legislative process required a long mediation between policies, on the basis of which the amendment to Article 1 was introduced, eliminating the concepts of the secular state and the protection of life from its inception, and Article 4, which in fact obliges the woman who wants to have an abortion to access the clinic: “We would have liked the clinic to be optional, but some points make us hope”, the president of the UDS, Karen Pruccoli, explained to San Marino RTV.
With the new law, in fact, a consultancy with non-objecting personnel will be established with the sole purpose of respecting the choice of the woman, without trying to dissuade her: any pro-life clusters near the structure will be banned. There has been much discussion on women’s privacy: in order to protect her, despite the mandatory passage through the clinic within the twelfth week of gestation, the IVG request can also be sent electronically.
A decisive step forward for a state that, more than a year ago, he punished the woman who aborted and those who helped her do it with jail. With the new law, on the other hand, those who induce the woman to carry the pregnancy when she would like to interrupt it will end up in the cell (art. 153).
For Muratori, law 21 is better than the Italian 194: «I’m sure of it, because 21/22 focuses on women, who don’t have to answer to anyone. 194 was born as a compromise between lay people and Catholics. Here, however, there was a referendum with a clear question, aimed at enhancing women’s freedom of choice. The compromise took place later, but with a push for the electoral body in favor of the question ».
The vote
In San Marino, women win: the referendum for abortion is a triumph for the yes
Chiara Sgreccia
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An important novelty of the San Marino law is the establishment of sex education courses in all schools: «There is a focus on the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, but also the promotion of full sexuality and not linked to reproductive function. A concept of sexuality, therefore, ”Muratori points out with satisfaction. To blame the major blow, the Christian Democrats and pro-life associations. Rosa Zafferani, however, points out: “We did not limit ourselves to meeting the political parties, but also the opposing committee, to look for meeting points: I must, however, admit that the positions were irreconcilable, very distant”.
For the UDS and the San Marino citizens who asked for a change in their Republic, August closed with a turning point in civilization, which rewrites the history of Monte Titano “Today in San Marino everything changes for the San Marino citizens because, when a law establishes a right clearly, there is a change in society “rejoices Valentina Rossi, member of the board of directors of Uds, teacher and first signatory of the bill on civil unions:” When that law was passed, homosexual couples confessed to us that they felt better in their society. Today in San Marino the history of women who in the past had to suffer because they were not welcomed, helped and supported here is changing. We arrive long after Italy, we are sure that there will be a radical change of mentality for everyone ». They wish it with a gin and tonic in hand, and their exultation echoes at the Galleria bar, where they have gathered to celebrate and remember the women who are no longer there. But today, in memory and commitment in the name of freedom, they are more alive than ever.