Liechtenstein's Hereditary Prince Alois has vetoed a bill that would have legalized abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, blocking a measure the tiny European country's parliament passed by a single vote.
The prince "will therefore withhold" approval from the bill adopted by the principality's parliament, the Princely House said in an Oct. 20 statement.
Under the constitution of Liechtenstein, a nation of about 40,000 people between Switzerland and Austria, no law takes effect without the reigning prince's approval.
The statement said Alois "remains convinced that the proposed reform is not compatible with ensuring adequate protection of unborn life as a fundamental legal value."
The statement added that Alois supports better information, counseling, and support for women before, during, and after pregnancy.
The bill would have allowed abortion up to 12 weeks. The activists behind the initiative pushing for legalization also sought to lift the advertising ban and have health insurance cover abortions.
Abortion remains a crime in Liechtenstein except in cases of rape or grave danger to the woman's life or health. Since 2015, women who have abortions abroad, usually in Switzerland or Austria, have not been prosecuted.
The initiative gathered 4,970 signatures, nearly a quarter of eligible voters. Liechtenstein's parliament, the Landtag, approved it by 13-12 and, by the same margin, declined to put it to a popular vote, EWTN News reported in September.
Alois had said in June that he would veto the measure.
Voters narrowly rejected legalizing abortion in a 2011 referendum after Alois said he would veto it if approved. In 2012, more than three-quarters of voters rejected a proposal to remove the prince's veto over laws approved by referendum.
The initiative committee said the veto was the first Alois has used during his reign, SRF reported. Its members had met Alois at Vaduz Castle hours before the announcement. The committee called for a protest in Vaduz on Saturday.
There are no official statistics on abortions in Liechtenstein.
Before the Landtag vote, Bishop Benno Elbs, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Vaduz, said in an Aug. 21 statement that the existing rules had proven themselves and that protecting unborn life must go hand in hand with counseling and practical help for parents. The archdiocese had not commented publicly on the veto as of Oct. 23.
According to Church teaching, human life is under God's special protection from the moment of conception.
"With the authority conferred by Christ upon Peter and his successors, I therefore affirm, in communion with the bishops of the Catholic Church, that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always a grave moral offense," St. John Paul II declared in 1995 in Evangelium Vitae.
