Abortion in Portugal
Abortion laws in Portugal were liberalized on April 10, 2007, allowing the procedure to be done on-demand if a woman's pregnancy has not exceeded its tenth week.[1] There is a three-day waiting period for abortions.[2] President Aníbal Cavaco Silva has ratified the new law allowing abortion, recommending nevertheless that measures should be taken to ensure abortion is the last resort.[3] Despite the liberalization of the laws, in practice, many doctors refuse to perform abortions (which they are allowed to do under a conscientious objection clause) as Portugal remains a country where the Catholic tradition has a significant influence.[4] Abortions at later stages are allowed for specific reasons, such as risk to woman's health reasons, rape and other sexual crimes, or fetal malformation; with restrictions increasing gradually at 12, 16 and 24 weeks.[5] The law was signed into law after a February 2007 referendum approved of liberalizing the abortion laws.[6]
Before April 2007, abortion was regulated by Law 6/84 and Law 90/97, and was strongly restricted, allowed only for health reasons, rape and sexual crimes, and fetal malformation.[5] Although during that period the abortion laws in Portugal were relatively similar to those of neighboring Spain, in practice, the law was given a much stricter interpretation in Portugal than in Spain, and obtaining a legal abortion was quite difficult.[7] A previous referendum in June 1998 failed to liberalize the abortion law by a slim margin.[8]
As of 2010[update], the abortion rate was 9.0 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 years.[9]
References
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- ↑ RTE News: Portugal president approves new abortion law
- ↑ USA Today: Portugal president OKs abortion law
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6541143.stm
- ↑ http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-08-10/here-there-portugal-abortion-legal-many-doctors-refuse-perform-them-9005
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.spdc.pt/files/publicacoes/Pub_AbortionlegislationinEuropeIPPFEN_Feb2009.pdf
- ↑ BBC News: Portugal will legalise abortion
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Acto realizado em: 28 June 1998 «Concorda com a despenalização da interrupção voluntária da gravidez, se realizada, por opção da mulher, nas 10 primeiras semanas, em estabelecimento de saúde legalmente autorizado?»
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
