Related articles and links |  1 of 13

Dramatic failure for Italian referendum on IVF
For once, people listened to the Vatican's call to abstain.

For the last two days, Italian voters have had the opportunity to vote on a referendum that would lift the country's rules on in vitro fertilization. Italy currently bans egg and sperm donation, embryo freezing, and pre-implantation screening of embryos. Eggs must come from a stable, heterosexual couple, and no more than three embryos can be created—and they all must be implanted at the same time. The referendums would have changed all of that.

But here's the trick: for the referendums to succeed, more than half of Italy's registered voters would have had to vote on them. So rather than fight the referendums at the polls, Italian bishops simply called for voters to stay home.

That did the trick. One-quarter of the registered voters showed up. As Radical Party leader Daniele Capezzone, whose party pushed for the lifting of IVF rules, told the Associated Press, "We lost, and we lost heavily."

"Turnout is thought to have been affected by both a call for abstention made by the Catholic Church … as well as voter apathy," says the BBC, which in an earlier dispatch really played up the lethargy angle ("Apathy hits Italy fertility vote" was its initial headline).

Could laziness be the key to a new strategy for Catholic leaders? Imagine the campaigns:

• Condoms: Those wrappers are just too hard to open.
• You're going to take that pill every day?
• Don't want to mow the lawn? Have more kids.
• The Da Vinci Code: 454 pages long. The New Testament: About 421 pages.

Tuesday news on the Italian referendum:

• No plan for Italy abortion campaign, cleric says | A leading cleric has dampened speculation that the Vatican could campaign to change Italy's abortion law after its victory in defense of the country's highly restrictive fertility legislation (Reuters)
• Italian vote to ease fertility law fails for want of voters | A law that imposes strict rules on assisted fertility will remain on the books after the failure of a hard-fought referendum (The New York Times)
• Low turnout sinks bid to repeal Italian fertility rules (The Washington Post)
• With too few voting, effort to ease Italian fertility law fails | Analysts are split on whether low turnout at the polls shows the strength of the Vatican, which sought a boycott of the referendum (Los Angeles Times)
• Take this embryo and shove it | Italy's mandatory pregnancy law (William Saletan, Slate)

More articles

Life ethics | Embryo adoption | Abortion | Catholicism | Education | Evolution | Air Force Academy | Texas Gov. bill signing | Church & state | Politics | Environment | ADF vs. ACLU in Wi. | Same-sex marriage | Homosexuality | AFA | Gay adoptions | Polygamous sect leader charged | Louisiana pastor charged | Abuse | AIDS | Family | Health | Scientology | Other religions | UK religious hatred bill | Religious freedom | Persecution | Human rights in Africa | Zimbabwe | Lebanon | Israel land dispute | Missions & ministry | Giving | Billy Graham in NYC | Ken Taylor | People | Money & business | Art & books | Theater, film, and TV | Music | Spirituality | Church life | History | More articles of interest

Life ethics:

• Bible gets workout in stem-cell debate | Jack Reed, co-founder of People of Faith for Stem Cell Research, says he finds justification for his support of early stem-cell research in biblical accounts of "Jesus' keen interest in healing" because of the potential that stem cells have to heal diseases and injuries (Bill Tammeus, The Kansas City Star)

next page... |  1 of 13

June (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49