A four-part abrogative referendum on fertility laws was held in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 12 June 2005.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An exp ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1049 Voters were asked whether research and access to the research on

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

s should be limited, whether embryos should be legally recognised as people and whether IVF treatment should be limited to three embryos.Nohlen & Stöver, pp1063-1064 The referendum was called after the

Italian Radicals The Italian Radicals ( it, Radicali Italiani, RI) is a liberal and libertarian political party in Italy. Founded on 14 July 2001 with Daniele Capezzone as their first secretary, the party describes itself as "''liberale'', ''liberista'' nd''li ...

collected the 500,000 signatures required.Poor turnout for Italy's fertility referendum
BioNews, 13 June 2005 Although all four proposals were approved by wide margins, the voter turnout of 26% was well below the 50% threshold and the results were invalidated.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

had called for a boycott.Pope backs boycott of Italy's referendum on assisted fertility
Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2005

Results

Scrapping limitations on clinical and experimental research on embryos

Scrapping limits on access to research on embryos

Scrapping the legal definition of embryos as people

Allowing IVF treatment with donated eggs or sperm

References

{{Italian elections 2005 referendums 2005 elections in Italy Referendums in Italy June 2005 events in Europe