Italian referendum fails.

Rome--Just under thirty percent of Italians entitled to vote in a referendum to allow experimentation on human embryos and loosen the restrictions on assisted fertility took part in the poll held in mid-June leading to the defeat of the proposed legislation. The referendum would have been valid only if fifty percent of those entitled to vote did so.

The Italian bishops' conference urged Catholics to abstain from voting; priests rallied the faithful behind the slogan, "Life can't be put to a vote. Don't vote." Pope Benedict supported the bishops, calling them "truly good pastors [who want to enlighten] the choice for Catholics."

The law was a response to what many saw as a medical Wild West, in which a 62-year-old woman had become a mother, and cloning seemed around the corner. The Vote Yes campaign won support from the centre-left opposition, doctors, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and movie stars such as Monica Bellucci, who became notorious by asking, "What do politicians and priests know about my ovaries?"

Dr. Paola Binetti, co-president of Science and Life, described how hard her committee worked with the encouragement of the vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini. "The people tended to respect the involvement of the Church at this level," she said.

The Church had expressed moral views during past national referendums, such as those on divorce (1974) and abortion (1981), but it has never expressly told people what their response should be. The most important factor, Binetti said, was that Christians, scientists, and especially women, worked together to denounce the sophisms behind slogans like "vote for the liberty of research," and "for the health and self-determination of women."