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Sunday, 11 February 2007, 09:58 GMT

Portugal votes on abortion reform

Voters in Portugal are deciding in a referendum whether the country's strict laws on abortion should be relaxed.

Opinion polls suggest a slim majority of people back a government proposal to give all women the right to an abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy.

But many are expected to abstain, making the result difficult to predict.

The mainly Catholic country currently allows abortions up the 12th week to save a woman's life or to preserve her mental or physical health.

In cases of rape, abortions are allowed within 16 weeks. The limit is 24 weeks if there is a risk that the child will be born with an incurable disease or deformity.

Portugal has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the European Union. Only Ireland, Malta and Poland have such similarly strict legislation.

"The choice placed before Portugal is whether it resigns itself to staying in the group of the most conservative countries or if it embraces modernity and joins the most developed nations"
Prime Minister Jose Socrates

Europe's abortion rules

As a result many Portuguese women go to Spain for terminations or resort to illegal abortions.

Some women have abortions done in unsanitary conditions and risk ending up with infections or other serious complications from which they may die.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates called for voters to back the changes to put an end to the ""national shame"" of back-street abortions.

""The choice placed before Portugal is whether it resigns itself to staying in the group of the most conservative countries or if it embraces modernity and joins the most developed nations,"" he said on Thursday.

In a referendum held in 1998, voters upheld the existing abortion law by 51% to 49%, but the result was declared void as nearly seven out of 10 voters stayed away.

The Socialists made holding another referendum part of their election platform in 2005. They have promised to act according to the result, regardless of whether the turnout exceeds the 50% threshold that would make it legally binding.

Jail threat

Voters are being asked to decide whether to make abortion legal in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, if carried out at the woman's request in a registered clinic.

But since the wording says nothing about the woman having to justify her decision, those against the reform say it is abortion on demand.

The idea of sending someone to prison for having an illegal abortion is universally unpopular - the offence carries a jail sentence of up to three years.

But many people in the staunchly Catholic country want the crime on the statute books to stop abortion becoming routine.

The Catholic Church has gone further, saying that Catholics, who account for 90% of Portugal's population, must oppose abortion.

""Whatever the motives that justify this dramatic act in the eyes of a woman, it is always the denial of a place in the world for a human life that was conceived,"" Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo, the Patriarch of Lisbon, has said.



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Related to this story:
Portugal set to vote on abortion (10 Feb 07 |  Europe )
Portugal split on abortion decision (08 Feb 07 |  Europe )
Portugal abortion law put to test (29 Jan 07 |  Europe )
Country profile: Portugal (09 Jan 07 |  Country profiles )
Portuguese to hold abortion vote (19 Oct 06 |  Europe )
Portuguese abortion vote denied (29 Oct 05 |  Europe )

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