Portugal Low Birthrate Shows Abortion Not the Answer

The global hand of the human extermination movement has taken hold of Portugal, a small country that has long had a low birthrate. Only four nations in Europe offer strong protection in law for unborn children: Ireland, Portugal, Poland, and Malta.

The European Union and the pro-abortion organizations it generously funds, along with the United Nations and others, have been trying for decades to get these EU members to conform to their abortion orthodoxy. Now, in the wake of a failed referendum last Sunday, they are on the verge of succeeding in one of those nations.

The referendum legalizing abortion-on-demand in the first 10 weeks received the approval of 59% of voters and the disapproval of only 41%. Yet, since so few voters showed up to vote-turnout was only 44%--the referendum failed.

No matter. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates says he will use the referendum to justify what he has long wanted to do anyway, and get a law through parliament legalizing abortion in the first 10 weeks. This unwise leader plans to do so by July.

In this 90th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal may be about to turn her back on the Catholic Faith and life itself. The legalization of abortion would only be another symptom of Portugal's terminal decline, another signpost on her way to eternal oblivion.

Portugal's birthrate dropped below replacement level over 20 years ago and now stands at a meager 1.5 children per woman. An astonishing 30% of Portuguese will be 65 or over by 2050, way up from 17% today-and that assumes that Portugal's birthrate will start rising by 2015, a questionable prediction. More likely, it will continue downward, making Portugal's median age 54 by 2050 (right now, it's an already-high 38).

So, setting moral principle aside, is this the time to legalize abortions of convenience in Portugal?

Portuguese law already allows abortions for the health of the mother and for rape. The birthrate is suicidally low. Portuguese women can and do pop over the border to Spain for abortions, anyway. What rational reason can there be for making abortion-on-demand a
priority in this dying land?

Some "yes" voters for the referendum may have been confused by the government's publicity campaign, which emphasized ending unsafe illegal abortions that sometimes result in the mother's death. The government argued that since these abortions occur anyway, they may as well be safely regulated and taxed. And some pro-legalization campaigners argued that legalization would reduce the number of abortions, though that has been proven historically false.

"We believe that those that voted 'yes' to relax the abortion laws were in fact voting against illegal abortions, we in the Church support that," said Carlos Azevedo, Church spokesman in Portugal. "What we want to see is improved education among the young and improved support for mothers."

Yet it is hard to believe that with a strong pro-life campaign in Portugal spreading the word, most of the 59% who voted yes don't favor liberalizing abortion laws. But it's possible that enough people were confused and enough too lazy to vote that only a minority of all Portuguese voters really favors what the referendum does.

"The favorable result for the 'yes' is a sign of accentuated cultural mutation by the Portuguese people, which we have to confront with realism," said the Portuguese bishops' conference in a statement. It blamed "the globalization of ways of thinking and opinions by the media" and said, "We appeal to doctors and health professionals not to hesitate in turning to the statute of 'conscientious objector' that the law guarantees."

The Dean of the College of Medicine of Portugal said that its Code of Ethics says life begins at conception and thus he expected most doctors to refuse to perform abortions. However, abortionists haven't wasted any time, already promising to build a $3.5 million abortion clinic in Lisbon.

Sadly, the supposedly pro-life leader of the primary opposition party in Portugal, Luis Marques Mendes of the Social Democratic Party, has already caved, saying he will not fight abortion legalization now that the referendum received a majority of those who voted. Instead, in the mantra of conservative politicians everywhere, he wants to extract a small
concession or two from the Left.

"The will of the Portuguese must be respected," he said. "It's important to include in the final version of the new law a compulsory period of counseling for the woman who is thinking of having an abortion."

Portugal's president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, is close to Marques Mendes and could veto a new law. Yet the main political opposition in parliament is giving up before the parliamentary battle has even begun.

But there is still hope.

Pro-lifers in Portugal organized to fight the referendum and can remain organized to fight the bill in parliament. Hopefully, they will understand the reality that in this fallen world, politicians respond weakly to appeals based on principle--"Defend life!"--and more strongly to threats--"Vote against this or we'll vote against you."

The Left never gives up. Portugal voted down an abortion referendum in 1998, so they tried again this year. They did the same with divorce in Ireland until they won there. We must take the same attitude, remembering the promise made at Fatima: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."

Portugal Pro-Abortion Activist Discusses Vote, Pro-Life Advocates Respond

Lisbon, Portugal (LifeNews.com) -- As the citizens of Portugal look back on Sunday's vote on an abortion referendum, a leading pro-abortion activist discussed how supporters were able to get 59 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, a leading pro-life group responded to the vote saying it was a setback because relatively few Portuguese backed abortion.

Portuguese voters backed the abortion referendum on a 59 to 41 percent margin but it didn't take effect because only 44 percent of the country turned out to vote. More than half had to participate for the vote to count.

Examined another way, just 26.2 percent of Portuguese voters backed legalizing abortion.

If passed, abortion would have been legalized for any reason through the 10th week of pregnancy.

As a result of the failure, the country's ruling Socialist government says it will pursue a bill in the nation's parliament to legalize abortion.

Alda Sousa, from the radical Left Bloc, talked with the Socialist Worker magazine about how abortion backers obtained 59 percent of those voting.

She said they did well because they made the argument about the problems associated with illegal abortions and focuses on cases of women being jailed and the medical complications resulting from them.

Sousa also said "victory was won through active campaigning by several pro-choice groups who worked together while focusing on their own specific areas of concern."

Abortion advocates organized groups of doctors talking about the illegal abortions in the media and put together a pro-abortion Catholic group to appeal with more of a religious message.

They also organized young voters to distribute information in theaters and workplaces.

"We campaigned across the country, but we paid special attention to districts where the no vote had won in 1998," Sousa said.

"We also focused our campaign around the idea that it was intolerable for women to be prosecuted and put on trial," Sousa added. "That was the argument that the no camp could not answer – although last week they tried proposing that while women should not be penalized for having abortions, abortion should remain a crime."

She said having the support of the ruling government was also helpful, as backers of the abortion referendum didn't have it last time when they were defeated by a larger margin.

Meanwhile, a leading pro-life organization in the United States said "pro-abortion forces suffered a setback" because 56 percent of voters stayed home rather than endorsing abortion.

"Sadly for the women and unborn children of Portugal, Prime Minister Socrates has promised to push and promote pro-abortion legislation through Portugal's Parliament," said Raimundo Rojas, NRLC Hispanic Outreach Director.

"With the support of international pro-abortion groups, he is determined to see that abortion on demand is the law of the land in Portugal," Rojas added.

Portugal is one of only four countries in Europe -- the others are Ireland, Poland and Malta -- that have laws protecting unborn children from abortion.

Along with 33 other countries, all have been criticized by the UN Compliance Committee on the Convention On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) based on the Committee's claim that CEDAW creates a "right" to abortion.