Yesterday was a key day for Portugal: for the second time round people had the chance to get involved directly in politics and have a say in the remaking of a law. Last time in 1998, people weren’t so interested, and the referendum participation was below the 50% needed for a legal ratification.
This current government also wanted to change that law and again it asked the people to vote and decide. The referendum was about a very delicate question for us, Portuguese, as we are, together with Ireland and Poland the most conservative in this field. I’m talking about legalising abortion.
Our law, the way it is written, only allows interruption of pregnancy in case of rape, malformation or danger for the mother’s health by solely decision of the medical class, and not the mother herself.
If the mother-to-be decides she wants to end her pregnancy, she has to do the abortion in an illegal backroom, usually with unsanitary conditions and paying around 1000€… Risking being found out and going to prison, as it is a crime, according to our law. Punished with up to 3 years sentence.
The referendum yesterday was posing the question if we agreed to change the law, by allowing women to voluntarily end up her pregnancy in a legal clinic, up to the 10 weeks of gestation.
In a very Catholic country but with plenty of available contraception – for free – this topic is very difficult to reach a consensus between the ‘pro-life’ and the ‘pro-freedom of choice’.
The law will pass, abortion will be legalised.
Today’s earthquake (5.8 in the Ritcher’s scale) was, according to some, a divine punishment for those who voted for the legalisation.
Who knows? J
This current government also wanted to change that law and again it asked the people to vote and decide. The referendum was about a very delicate question for us, Portuguese, as we are, together with Ireland and Poland the most conservative in this field. I’m talking about legalising abortion.
Our law, the way it is written, only allows interruption of pregnancy in case of rape, malformation or danger for the mother’s health by solely decision of the medical class, and not the mother herself.
If the mother-to-be decides she wants to end her pregnancy, she has to do the abortion in an illegal backroom, usually with unsanitary conditions and paying around 1000€… Risking being found out and going to prison, as it is a crime, according to our law. Punished with up to 3 years sentence.
The referendum yesterday was posing the question if we agreed to change the law, by allowing women to voluntarily end up her pregnancy in a legal clinic, up to the 10 weeks of gestation.
In a very Catholic country but with plenty of available contraception – for free – this topic is very difficult to reach a consensus between the ‘pro-life’ and the ‘pro-freedom of choice’.
The law will pass, abortion will be legalised.
Today’s earthquake (5.8 in the Ritcher’s scale) was, according to some, a divine punishment for those who voted for the legalisation.
Who knows? J
No comments:
Post a Comment