Italians head to polls to vote on fertility legislation News
Italians head to polls to vote on fertility legislation

[JURIST] Italians began voting at 8 AM Rome time Sunday in referendums [referendum questions on ballot] to lessen the limitations on existing legislation on fertility treatment and stem cell research. Pre-referendum polls [JURIST report] predicted that the referendum would fail, suggesting that only 30-40% of voters would show up, when at least 50% are necessary in order for the referendum to be valid. Four hours into the voting, the Italian Interior Ministry [official website] estimated that 4.5% of eligible voters had cast their ballots based on information received from 100 out of the 110 Italian provinces. By 10 PM some 18% had voted [Interior Ministry figures]. Polls will reopen Monday at 7 AM for the final day of voting. The referendum has been a focus of bitter intense debate [JURIST report] between the Vatican [official website], which has urged Catholic voters to abstain, and Italy's Radical Party [website in Italian] who say the current law is anti-women and anti-research. Read an Italy Magazine analysis [in Italian] of the referendum situation; the Italian Interior Ministry hosts the official referendum website [in Italian]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia

On September 5, 1774, the first assembly of the Continental Congress, forerunner of the US Congress, convened in Philadelphia to protest the so-called "Intolerable Acts" passed by the British Parliament. Review the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress.

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On September 5, 1798, France promulgated a conscription policy with the passage of the Jourdan Law. The law instituted a draft for all males between the ages of twenty and twenty-five with exceptions for clergy, holders of public office, and certain students and industrial workers. The law also allowed the wealthy to pay for someone else to take their place in the military.