abortion to be made legal?

in case you people in singapore thought that europeans are very liberal, here is something that will surprise you... abortion is currently illegal in portugal!! so things may be about to change, cos today, portugese people have the chance to vote for abortion (<10weeks)...

"PORTUGUESE voters today backed a proposal to liberalise the country's prohibitive abortion law, but not enough turned out to make the controversial referendum legally binding.

Although polls said between 57 and 62.6 per cent of those who took part wanted the change to one of the most restrictive laws in Europe, there was a huge abstention rate of between 54.6 and 61 per cent, polls for the three main television channels said.

More than half of the 8.7 million eligible voters in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation had to take part to make the result of the second abortion referendum in a decade binding.

The Socialist government has said however that it would pass legislation according to result of the referendum if the voter threshold was not met.

The government proposal was to give all women the right to an abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy. Abortion is currently allowed in Portugal only in cases of rape, a malformed foetus or if the woman's wellbeing is in danger.

A woman can be jailed for up to three years for having an illegal abortion while those who perform them face up to eight years behind bars.

Within the European Union only Ireland, Malta and Poland have abortion laws that are similar or even more restrictive.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates, elected in a landslide in 2005, has promised to pass legislation changing the law if the turnout was too low to get an automatic change.

During the campaign Mr Socrates called backstreet abortions a "national shame" and cast the referendum as a test of Portugal's readiness for progress. "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 Friday.Pro-abortion groups estimate that some 10,000 women are hospitalised, and several die every year from complications arising from botched backstreet abortions. Anti-abortion groups contest the figure. "

but being a predominantly catholic country, there are, of course, lots of resistance to this referendum...

"Opposition to change was led by the influential Catholic church which argued the government should do more to help women to have children instead of easing abortion restrictions.

One priest threatened Catholics who voted to ease the law with excommunication from the church. The Bishop of the northern city of Braganca likened abortion to the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

More than 90 per cent of Portugal's population identify themselves as being Roman Catholic although, as in other Catholic countries, regular church attendance is on the decline."

source: The Courier-Mail (11 Feb 07)