Portugal Votes on Easing Abortion Law

Portuguese citizens began casting their votes Sunday in a referendum on whether to allow some abortions.

Portuguese law outlaws almost all abortions.

Opinion polls on the proposed abortion reform showed only a slim percentage of the population supports it, with another group expected to abstain, but the BBC said the election’s results are nearly impossible to predict.

If the referendum manages to be passed, it would allow women to have an abortion up to their 10th week of pregnancy.

With one of the European Union’s most restrictive abortion laws, Portugal currently only allows abortions when a woman is physically endangered, has been raped or would have a diseased or deformed child.

The BBC said Portuguese Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates asked his fellow citizens Thursday to support the bill and end the nation’s harsh stance on abortion.

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.