The new legislation on abortion is finally effective since last July 15 in Portugal. The new law, which has been approved by very large majority in Parliament on 8th March 2007, legitimates VTOP for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Women who want to have recourse to abortion during this period of time will have first to be advised and fully informed by a doctor and after a time for reflection of 3 days, the surgical operation will have to be done in an hospital or an accredited clinic.
However, the enforcement of the law is meeting some difficulties, since a large number of medical practitioners still refuse to go in for abortion.
The Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Left Bloc and 21 deputees from the Social Democratic Party represented in the Assembly of the Republic approved the Bill. The CDS-PP (Democratic Social Center/People’s Party – Right) voted against the proposed legislation and tried for a while to convince the Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva to veto it.
The previous legislation, from 1984, was one of the most restrictive in the European Union. Women found guilty of having aborted faced sentences up to 3 years in prison, except in case of rape, malformed fetus or if the woman’s life was in danger.
According to a study published by the Association for the family planning in December 2007, 18.000 Portuguese women aborted illegally in 2006.
