A constitutional referendum on the subject of

abortion law Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

was held in

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

on 27 November 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 expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1177 Voters were presented with a "For Life" proposal and a counterproposal by the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

. For the first time since 1925, a Landtag counterproposal was approved, whilst the "For Life" initiative was rejected.

Background

The "For Life" proposal was a citizen initiative, which called for a change to Article 14 of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, with the aim of banning abortion. The article text would be changed from "The supreme task of the state is to promote the overall welfare of the People." to "The supreme task of the state is the protection of human life from conception to natural death and to promote the overall welfare of the People." The initiative collected 1,891 signatures collected between 24 June and 5 August 2005, of which 1,889 were ruled valid, exceeding the threshold of 1,500 required for an initiative to be considered by the Landtag. The Landtag voted on the proposal on 21 September, rejecting it by 23 to 2 votes. A counter-proposal developed by the Landtag was approved by 23–2. It involved adding two new sections to Article 27 of the constitution: :Article 27bis (human dignity) :#The dignity of man is to be respected and protected. :#No one shall be subjected to

inhuman or degrading treatment Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT) is treatment of persons which is contrary to human rights or dignity, but is not classified as torture. It is forbidden by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 of the European Convention ...

or punishment. :Article 27ter (right to life) :#Everyone has the right to life. :#The death penalty is prohibited. As the proposal involved a constitutional amendment, a second reading was required. This was held on 28 September, when it was again passed by 23 votes to two. The government then set the date for the referendum.Liechtenstein, 27 November 2005: "For Life" with Counterproposal
Direct Democracy

Results

"For Life" proposal

Landtag counterproposal

References

{{Liechtenstein elections 2005 referendums 2005 in Liechtenstein Referendums in Liechtenstein Abortion debate Abortion in Liechtenstein Constitutional referendums November 2005 events in Europe