The tiny republic of San Marino voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to legalize abortion, making it one of the last European states to try and scrap a total ban.

In a referendum, some 77.3 percent of voters approved a motion to allow the termination of a pregnancy up to 12 weeks, and after that if the mother's life is in danger or in case of severe fetal abnormalities.

More than 35,000 people were eligible to vote, around one third of them being abroad. The turnout was 41 percent.

San Marino, a predominately Catholic state in the heart of Italy, is one of the last countries in Europe to still have a total ban on abortion, alongside Malta, Andorra and the Vatican.

Ireland, another traditionally Catholic country, made abortion legal in a high-profile referendum in 2018.

But Sunday's vote also came as regions like Poland and the U.S. state of Texas have tightened abortion laws.

Under the current San Marino law, which dates back to 1865, women who sought an abortion could be sentenced to three years in prison, while a doctor performing the procedure could get six years.

In practice, nobody has ever been convicted: San Marino women would instead travel to Italy, where abortions have been legal for 40 years.

The San Marino Women's Union, which initiated the referendum, welcomed Sunday's result: "It's a victory for all the women of San Marino, over the conservatives and reactionaries who believe women have no rights."

The ruling Christian Democratic Party, which led the "No" campaign and has close ties to the Catholic Church, called it a defeat but said the government would propose a law reflecting the referendum's result to parliament within six months.

"We respect the voice of the voters," the party's deputy secretary Manuel Ciavatta told AFP, adding, "Our party will do everything it can to help women to ensure they are not left alone."

Pope Francis last week reiterated his uncompromising position that abortion is "murder."

Social progress has tended to be slow in San Marino. Women did not get the right to vote until 1960, 14 years after surrounding Italy, and have only been allowed to hold political office since 1974. Divorce was legalized in 1986, some 16 years after Italy.

(With input from agencies)