Italian Referendum on Fertility Treatment, Embryo Research Fails With Low Turnout

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 15 Jun 2005 - 10:00 PDT

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An Italian referendum that would have repealed some aspects of a law that bans human embryonic stem cell research and restricts access to assisted reproductive technology failed on Monday because only 25.9% of registered voters participated, far short of the 50% required to make a referendum's results valid, the... Washington Post reports (Delaney, Washington Post, 6/14). However, of the approximately 12 million Italians who did vote, about 75% voted to repeal the law (Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 6/14). The law -- which was approved in 2004 -- gives embryos the status of "full human beings" (Arie, Christian Science Monitor, 6/14). In addition, the law allows fertility treatments only for heterosexual couples who live together and are of childbearing age, bans the use of donated sperm or eggs, prohibits prenatal screening for abnormalities, and prohibits doctors from freezing embryos or using them for scientific research. The referendum would have repealed several sections of the law, including the provision that defines life as beginning at conception, the bans on donated sperm and eggs and surrogate parenthood, the prohibition of research involving embryos and the requirement that couples undergoing in vitro fertilization create no more than three embryos at a time (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 6/13).

Is Abortion Next?
The referendum's failure was viewed in large part as a victory for the Roman Catholic Church, which had urged Catholics not to vote, using the slogan: "Life cannot be put to a vote: Don't vote," Reuters reports (Darlington, Reuters, 6/13). Following the referendum's failure, opponents of the law said they are concerned that it has "opened the door" to a repeal of the country's abortion law, the New York Times reports (Fisher, New York Times, 6/14). Some advocates noted that language in the 2004 law that gives rights to embryos seems to conflict with the country's law allowing legal abortion (Los Angeles Times, 6/14).

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Tuesday reported on the referendum. The segment includes comments from Daniele Capezzone, secretary for the Radical Party -- which collected the 500,000 signatures necessary to petition the law; Sergio Romano, an Italian political analyst; and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian bishops' conference (Poggioli, "Morning Edition," NPR, 6/14). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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