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Gibraltar votes to ease restrictive abortion law

June 25, 2021

A significant majority of Gibraltarians approved the move permitting abortion in some cases at a referendum. Turnout was fairly low, just over half of eligible voters.

https://p.dw.com/p/3vWqh
A majority of Gibraltarians voted at 15 polling stations across the territory in suppot of an amended law to ease abortion laws
A majority of Gibraltarians voted at 15 polling stations across the territory in suppot of an amended law to ease abortion lawsImage: Javier Fergo/AP Photo/picture alliance

Gibraltar voted on Thursday in support of amending the territory's strict abortion law to permit women to have an abortion in the first trimester if the woman's physical or mental health is deemed at risk, or when the fetus has physical defects.

In a narrow set of circumstances when the health risks posed are deemed serious and permanent, later abortions may also be possible.

With 62% in favor of the new law, access to abortion in one of the places with the strictest abortion laws in Europe will ease. Prior to the referendum, abortion was banned with a penalty of life in prison; although no one in modern times has faced such a sentence.

Typically, women had traveled to either neighboring Spain or to the United Kingdom to seek services.

Ballot exposes divergent views

The British Overseas Territory at the southern tip of Spain is home to some 32,000 people, with about 23,000 Gibraltarians eligible to vote on the changes parliament ratified in 2019. Turnout was just over 52%.

Nicole Vanda, who voted in support of the changes to the law, told the Associated Press: "Women have the right to privacy and they also have the right to not be subject to inhumane and degrading treatment when they are forced to continue a pregnancy against their will."

However, not all agree. Slightly more than 36% voted against easing the restrictive laws against abortion.

The Bishop of Gibraltar had previously spoken out against the new law. An estimated 80% of people in Gibraltar are Catholic.

The referendum on Gibraltar's restrictive abortion law highlighted a societal division over the issue
The referendum on Gibraltar's restrictive abortion law highlighted a societal division over the issueImage: Jon Nazca/REUTERS

The anti-abortion movement in the territory also ran ads that read: "Save babies, vote no."

"This law is very extreme. It removes all protection from unborn children all the way up to the nine months," Karenza Morillo, who campaigned against the changes, told news  agency AFP. "On paper it looks restrictive but in practice it will not be."

Politically in line with European policy

The changes posed by the referendum follow a June 2018 ruling by Britain's Supreme Court concerning nearly identical abortion laws in Northern Ireland, which were deemed to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The initial referendum in Gibraltar had been scheduled for March 2020, but as the Covid-19 case count soared, the vote was postponed until now.

The referendum was delayed more than a year due to the pandemic
The referendum was delayed more than a year due to the pandemicImage: Javier Fergo/AP Photo/picture alliance

Despite opposition from the church and roughly a third of those voting, the "yes" vote reflects a political consensus, with most political parties united behind the proposed changes.

The two parties in the current coalition government, the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party of the head of government, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, and the Liberal Party — along with Together Gibraltar — all urged a "yes" vote. However, the opposition Social Democrats leader was against.

Picardo called the vote a "seminal referendum on women's reproductive rights.''

ar/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)