Referendum to legalize abortion in Portugal in 1998
On 8. June 1998 in took Portugal a referendum held in the Portuguese population about the legalization of voluntary abortion could decide. An extremely narrow majority (50.07 percent) of the Baer population decided against the proposal.
background
As Portugal had one of the strictest abortion laws in all of Europe at the time, the number of illegal abortions - especially in regions close to the border with Spain - was constantly increasing. For this reason, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) introduced a bill in the Assembleia da República to legalize voluntary abortion up to the tenth week. Parliament passed the bill, but the chairmen of the two largest parties, PS and PSD, agreed to hold a referendum on this issue.
The referendum was the first of its kind in Portuguese history.
referendum
question
The question, which could only be answered with yes or no, was:
"Concorda com a despenalização da interrupção voluntária da gravidez, se realizada, por opção da mulher, nas 10 primeiras semanas, em estabelecimento de saúde legalmente autorizado?"
"Do you agree to the exemption from punishment for the termination of pregnancy within the first ten weeks if this takes place at the request of the mother and in a legally authorized health institution?"
Although the proposal was supported by the PCP , the PEV and a large part of the PS , the then Prime Minister António Guterres took an opposing position because he saw himself as a strict Catholic. For this reason, the Partido Socialista did not officially recommend voting, as did the liberal-conservative PSD , the largest opposition party. On the other hand, the Catholic Church and the right-wing conservative CDS-PP in particular spoke out against it.
Result
In the end, an extremely narrow majority (50.07 percent) of the population voted against the bill, while 48.28 percent of the voters voted in favor. The turnout, however, was only 31.89 percent. H. 2.7 million of the 8.49 million eligible voters took part.
| answer | be right | percent |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 1,308,130 | 48.28 |
| No | 1,356,754 | 50.07 |
| Voices | 29,057 | 1.07 |
| Invalid | 15,562 | 0.57 |
| voter turnout | 2,709,503 | ( 31.89) |
According to the Portuguese constitution, the vote of the voters was not binding as the turnout was below 50 percent. But also because of the negative decision, the ruling Partido Socialista under António Guterres decided not to make any changes to the Portuguese criminal code for the time being.
In 2007 another referendum took place with the same question, the majority of the population voted in favor, so that nowadays abortions can be carried out without penalty.
Individual evidence
- ^ N-tv: Abortion in Portugal. Referendum failed. ( Memento from December 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) n-tv.de, February 11, 2007
- ↑ Official election results on the website of the CNE (Portuguese)