Rome
Many Italians this week followed their bishops’ wishes and boycotted a vote on whether to overturn strict restrictions on fertility treatments. Just over a quarter of voters cast ballots in the referendum, far less than the 50 percent turnout necessary to make the vote binding. The laws in question, passed last year, give embryos the same legal status as people and ban embryo freezing and embryo research. They also ban sperm and egg donation and forbid implantation of more than three fertilized eggs at once—restrictions that have led many Italian couples to seek fertility treatment in other countries. Pope Benedict had given his blessing to the Italian bishops’ campaign to keep voters from the polls.
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