LISBON, Portugal, June 29 (LSN) – Yesterday, Portuguese voters rejected a bid to introduce abortion on demand in the largely Roman Catholic country. Only 31% of registered voters took part in the referendum; but of those, 51% voted against a change in the law. Despite the results of the referendum, the ruling Socialist Party plans to go ahead. Portuguese law stipulates that a referendum is binding only when at least 50% of registered voters take part. Portugal’s current abortion law limits the procedure to cases where a pregnancy is thought to endanger a woman’s health, or in cases of pregnancy caused by rape. The law forbids all abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. There were 300 legal abortions in Portugal last year.
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