[JURIST] A referendum [JURIST report] to liberalize Italy's assisted-fertility laws has failed due to low voter turnout. The two-day referendum [official site, in Italian] needed over 50 percent turnout for its results to count, but only 18.7 percent voted Sunday and early figures reported by the Italian Interior Ministry after the polls closed at 3 PM Rome time Monday suggested a final turnout of only 26% [Interior Ministry figures], far short of what was required for any result to be binding. The Catholic Church had urged people to boycott the referendum in support of current laws [Telegraph report], which ban sperm and egg cell donation and embryo research. AP has more.