Why are so many European microstates against abortion?

In Andorra and Liechtenstein, abortion is still banned. In Monaco, it is illegal to perform an abortion. San Marino is an exception: in 2022 abortion was finally legalised. From the seaside principality of Monaco to the hilly enclave of San Marino, ENTR set out to meet those who fought sometimes insurmountable battles in the smallest of countries to break one of the biggest taboos.

June 12, 2025
By: Renée BERTINI, Jade BRIEND-GUY

“I didn't actually know I was pregnant, because I was on the pill". Under the already scorching May sun, Juliette Rapaire, 30, begins her story with a scenario common to many who choose to have an abortion. "It was the end of 2022, I went to see a gynaecologist for ovarian cysts, and he told me that I was pregnant. I was almost a month pregnant, so it was still within the legal time frame to get an abortion in France."

The young Monegasque woman then decided to contact a French gynaecologist practicing just across Monaco’s borders. On paper, abortion has been decriminalised in the microstate since 2019. People choosing to terminate their pregnancy no longer risk a fine or imprisonment. But doctors and midwives who conduct abortions still risk sanctions: five to ten years in prison and a blanket ban on practicing medicine. This means people from Monaco trying to get an abortion still do so elsewhere, mainly in France.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250612-why-are-so-many-european-microstates-against-abortion-monaco-san-marino

San Marino legalizes abortion, year after voters gave OK

Frances D'emilio, The Associated Press
Sep 01, 2022

Advocates for abortion rights in San Marino expressed satisfaction Thursday that lawmakers voted to legalize abortion in the tiny republic, one of the last European states to have had the procedure outlawed under all circumstances.

Wednesday’s parliamentary vote was the culmination of a referendum last year in which citizens overwhelmingly voted to overturn a 150-year-old law that criminalized the procedure. The legislature of the predominantly Catholic nation voted 32 in favor, seven against and 10 abstaining to make abortion legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/san-marino-legalizes-abortion-year-after-voters-gave-ok

01.09.2022

conscientious objectors

Elena D’Amelio

Giacomo Simoncini

San Marino Women's Union

Change is inevitable: people demand the human right to access safe abortion across Europe

Amnesty International
September 28, 2021

Europe has been at the forefront of the global trend towards the liberalization of abortion laws for more than 60 years. But there is still work to do to give all women and people who can become pregnant access to safe and legal abortion.

Almost all EU member states have now legalized abortion on request or on broad socio-economic grounds and, in the last few years, several European countries have enacted important progressive reforms or taken steps to remove harmful procedural and regulatory barriers that can impede access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/change-is-inevitable-people-demand-the-human-right-to-access-safe-abortion-across-europe/

San Marino legalizes abortion while Pope, women’s groups disagree

The Associated Press
Monday, September 27, 2021

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 per cent of the 14,384 votes cast Sunday in the microstate surrounded by Italy -- favoured 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.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/san-marino-legalizes-abortion-while-pope-women-s-groups-disagree-1.5602230

27.09.2021

Union of Sammarinese Women

San Marino votes to legalise abortion in historic referendum

September 26, 2021
By Angelo Amante

ROME
(Reuters) -The tiny republic of San Marino has voted overwhelmingly in favor of
legalising abortion in a referendum, overturning a law dating back to 1865,
official results showed on Sunday.

Some 77.30% of voters backed the proposal to allow abortion up to 12 weeks of
pregnancy and afterward only in the case of the mother's life being in danger
or of grave malformation of the foetus.

Continued: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/reuters/san-marino-votes-to-legalise-abortion-in-historic-referendum/46980762

26.09.2021

San Marino referendum ends with 77% voting to end abortion ban

Over 40% of residents of landlocked state in central Italy voted to end total ban in place since 1865

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Sun 26 Sep 2021

Residents in San Marino have voted overwhelmingly to legalise abortion.

Over 40% of the population of about 33,000 in the tiny state, which is landlocked within central Italy, participated in the referendum, with 77.3% voting in support of allowing abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, according to results published by San Marino TV.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/26/san-marino-votes-in-referendum-on-lifting-abortion-ban

26.09.2021

Sammarinese Women’s Union

San Marino Women's Union

Tiny San Marino votes in referendum on legalizing abortion

by FRANCES D'EMILIO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted Sep 24, 2021

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.

Continued: https://www.news957.com/2021/09/24/tiny-san-marino-votes-in-referendum-on-legalizing-abortion/

24.09.2021

conscientious objectors

San Marino abortion debate heats up ahead of historic referendum

by Angelo Amante and Emily Roe
September 20, 2021

SAN MARINO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - One of Europe's staunchest opponents to legal abortion could fall on Sunday when San Marino, a tiny and deeply Catholic republic landlocked in Italy, holds a referendum to overturn a law dating back to 1865.

A "Yes" vote will bring some relief for pro-choice supporters further afield who have been dismayed as authorities in countries like Poland and in the U.S. state of Texas have tightened laws.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/san-marino-abortion-debate-heats-up-ahead-historic-referendum-2021-09-20/

20.09.2021

San Marino Women's Union

San Marino’s abortion referendum reveals social fissures

Arguments flare in the tiny, extremely conservative nation ahead of a vote on finally legalising abortion

Angela Giuffrida, Rome correspondent

Fri 17 Sep 2021

It didn’t take long for the debate in San Marino to turn toxic. Soon after
campaigning in the lead-up to a referendum on legalising abortion officially
got under way, the walls of the tiny country, landlocked within central Italy,
were slapped with posters from anti-abortion activists featuring a child with
Down’s syndrome. The caption read: “I’m an anomaly, does that mean I have fewer
rights than you?”

Other posters featured the image of a foetus alongside the message: “I’m a
child even at 12 weeks, save me!”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/17/san-marinos-abortion-referendum-reveals-social-fissures

San Marino women struggle to legalize abortion

Claudia Torrisi
June 21, 2021

For months in the Republic of San Marino, a group of women worked tirelessly for a referendum that could lead to a historic turning point: legalizing abortion in the country. The small state of about 33,000 inhabitants between Emilia-Romagna and Marche is one of the very few in Europe – together with Malta, Gibraltar, Andorra, Vatican City and Poland, which recently introduced an almost total ban – in which to terminate a pregnancy. it is a crime.

The penal code provides for a sentence of three to six years of imprisonment – for the woman who has an abortion and for anyone who participates – regardless of the reasons for the choice: even in the case of rape or serious fetal malformations.

Continued: https://breakinglatest.news/news/san-marino-women-struggle-to-legalize-abortion-claudia-torrisi/