Young Voters Skipped a Chance to Ease Some of Europe’s Harshest Abortion Laws

It should have been a moment to celebrate. People in Gibraltar had just voted by a wide margin to ease some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. But despite the success of the “Yes” campaign, many activists are disheartened by a low turnout, especially among young people.

Only 53.75 percent of registered voters in Gibraltar – a largely self-governing British overseas territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula – took part in the referendum. In comparison, 83.64 percent of people turned out for the Brexit referendum in 2016. Under-30s made up just 17 percent of the abortion referendum vote, while under-20s accounted for just 2.3 percent of the vote — a low turnout in a country with a median age of 35. 

“I think we feel a bit let down by the younger generation especially those under 20,” Christina Linares, co-founder of Students for Yes – a subsection of the official pro-choice campaign – told VICE World News. She said that young people seemed “apathetic” towards the referendum.

Prior to June’s historic referendum, abortion was only legal in cases where a mother’s life was at risk. 62 percent of eligible voters back a relaxation of the law that will allow abortion in instances where the mother’s physical or mental health are at risk or when the foetus is suffering from a fatal condition. 

Just 33,000 people live in Gibraltar, a rocky peninsula that is still a point of contention between the UK and Spain and has historically occupied an oversized role in world affairs because of its strategic location. Gibraltar is able to set its own laws in all aspects apart from foreign and military affairs. That has allowed it to have a more regressive abortion policy than the UK for example. 

Linares said she believed voter apathy was down to the fact young people felt “fatigued” with the campaign process, which was spread across three years after being postponed in March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Marlene Hassan-Nahon, a pro-choice campaigner and one of only two women MPs in Gibrlatar’s 17-strong parliament, agreed.

“Last time around there was a lot more engagement for the referendum and then it was postponed,” she told VICE World News. “COVID came [and people] were already saturated by the debate and by coronavirus; listening so much to public announcements, public messages, government warnings, and people didn’t want any more of it.” 

She said “many people were against the principle of this going ahead as a referendum...and it should be a matter of human rights that should have been legislated upon. So, out of protest, people didn’t want to vote.” A lack of youth engagement in politics and a “general issue of disenfranchisement” among Gibraltar’s youth is something Hassan-Nahon feels needs to be tackled. 

In general, though, Linares felt that young people “didn’t feel the weight of the issue,” especially men. “Many young men feel they have no say on women’s issues,” she said.

“My husband didn't want to vote,” a 27-year-old woman who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak openly about a private matter said. “He was saying that he didn't feel like it was his place to make decisions for other people.” Eventually, though, the woman was able to convince him that “that was the exact reason he needed to vote yes.”

“It’s all good that [men] believe they have no say,” Linares said, “but then they might as well vote for a law that gives women a choice.” 

Mark Montegriffo, a pro-choice organiser, noted that the campaign “got really vicious,” and “people may have been intimidated from engaging in the process.” 

“Politics is for lawyers, really, in Gibraltar,” Montegriffo said. “A really high number of MPs are lawyers, so politics does not reflect young people’s experiences, certainly not those who leave Gibraltar and see the world outside of the small enclave...so why would they [vote]?”

One 21-year-old man who spoke to VICE World News on the condition of anonymity to speak openly about a sensitive vote, hadn’t realised it was possible to vote by post until he heard about it from somebody in his workplace. "I wouldn't have voted if I hadn't been told about postal vote [because] I felt a bit embarrassed and intimidated about going to the stations,” he said. “Most of my friends and peers didn't vote because they didn't feel educated enough on how to vote or what they were voting for."  

For Montegriffo, this is systemic and is down to the fact that Gibraltar’s political system rarely reflects the views and experiences of young people in the country. A 25-year-old man who chose not to vote in the referendum, and also wanted to remain anonymous to speak on a personal matter, said that he did so because “I didn't feel like I knew enough about the law to vote, and my family don't vote in general elections or anything so I didn't vote."

Despite this, Montegriffo is confident that youth turnout will only get better: “They’ve never seen a victory for young people’s values,” he said. “This is a victory. Therefore I’m confident that we’ll see a boost in engagement from young people in the future.”