The Latest Polls on Portugal Abortion Referendum

Portugal Voters Prepare for Key Sunday Vote on Legalizing Abortion

Lisbon, Portugal (LifeNews.com) -- Portugal has been intensely debating abortion for the last several months as it prepares for a vote Sunday on whether to legalize abortion. Polls initially showed strong support for the abortion referendum, but pro-life groups and the Catholic Church have cut the margin with a strong educational campaign. If approved, the referendum would legalize abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Currently, the western European nation only allows abortion through the 12th week of pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, life of the mother, or when the unborn child has severe physical or mental handicaps. It is one of just a handful of nations on the continent, including Ireland, Poland and Malta, that make abortions illegal. To go into effect, a majority of voters must approve the abortion referendum and more than 50 percent of the nation's residents must turn out in order for the vote to count. Portuguese voters turned back a previous effort to legalize abortion in 1998 on a 51-49 percentage margin and just 30 percent of the people voted. The campaign against the referendum has been working and more than 9,000 pro-life advocates took to the streets in Portugal last month to oppose it. A poll released in early January by Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha and the pollster Aximage showed 64 percent of the Portuguese people favored the abortion referendum. However, a new survey published late last month in the daily Jornal de Noticias found only 38 percent of Portuguese voters will support legalizing abortion. That's down from the newspaper's earlier poll showing 53 percent of registered voters would back it. Read the complete story.