Lisbon, Portugal
Portugal’s government said this week it planned to legalize all abortions up to the 10th week of pregnancy. In a referendum last week, nearly 60 percent of voters in the predominantly Catholic country supported liberalizing the nation’s abortion law, among the most restrictive in Europe. The referendum wasn’t binding, since fewer than half of voters turned out, but the government said it would respect the result anyway. Under current Portuguese law, abortion is illegal except in the case of rape or when the mother’s health is at risk. In Europe, only Poland, Ireland, and Malta retain similar restrictions.
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