An abortion referendum took place in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

on 11 February 2007, to decide whether to legalise abortion up to ten weeks. The referendum was the fulfillment of an election pledge by the governing

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

of Prime Minister

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he acted ...

.Portugal will legalise abortion
" (12 February 2007). BBC News. Retrieved 12 February 2007. Official results of the referendum showed that 59.24 percent of the Portuguese approved the proposal put on ballot, while 40.76 percent rejected it. However, only 43.61 percent of the registered voters turned out to vote. Since voter turnout was below 50 percent, according to the Portuguese Constitution, these results are not legally binding, and parliament can legally decide to disregard them. Prime Minister Sócrates nevertheless confirmed that he would expand the circumstances under which abortion was allowed, since a majority of voters had been in favour. The law was ratified by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...

on 10 April 2007.

Background

In 1998, the legalization of abortion had also been put to a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. However, a small majority voted NO, 51 to 49 percent, and abortion legalization was not implemented.

Question

The question in the referendum was: Under the previous law, abortions were allowed up 12 weeks if the mother's life or mental or physical health is at risk, up to 16 weeks in cases of rape and up to 24 weeks if the child may be born with an incurable disease or deformity. The new law, approved on 9 March 2007, allows abortions on request up to the tenth week.

Political positions

The major parties in Portugal listed with their political positioning and their official answer to the referendum question: * Left **

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

– YES ** Left Bloc – YES **

Ecologist Party "The Greens" The Ecologist Party "The Greens" (, , PEV) is a Portugal, Portuguese Eco-socialism, eco-socialist List of political parties in Portugal, political party. It is a member of the European Green Party, European Greens and a founding member of the Eu ...

– YES **

– YES * Right **

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

– NEUTRAL (the party was divided, however, important members, including the then leader,

Luís Marques Mendes Luís Manuel Gonçalves Marques Mendes (born 5 September 1957) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician, and a former Leader of the Social Democratic Party. Background He is a son of António Marques Mendes and wife Maria Isabel Gonçalves. Care ...

, said NO) ** People's Party – NO

Campaign period

Bloco de Esquerda interrupcao voluntaria da gravidez referendo

Choices slogans

Opinion polling

A December 2006 Aximage/

Correio da Manhã Correio da Manhã may refer to one of the following newspapers: * ''Correio da Manhã'' (Brazil) * ''Correio da Manhã'' (Portugal) {{disambig ...

poll had found that 61 percent of Portugal's electorate supported the proposal, 26 percent did not, and 12 percent were "not sure". An earlier survey from October 2006 had yielded similar results. However, a poll from mid-January 2007 had seen support drop to 38 to 28 percent in favour."." (29 January 2007). ''Angus Reid Global Monitor''. Retrieved 12 February 2007.

Results

Results by district

References

External links

Results of the referendum
{{Portuguese elections 2007 referendums Abortion referendum Abortion in Portugal Referendums in Portugal February 2007 in Portugal Abortion referendums