February 12, 2007
No...
Low turnout dooms abortion referndum in Portugal:
The Socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates, conceded late on Sunday that despite his party’s tremendous efforts to grant broader access to abortion in the country, a pro-abortion referendum has failed to pass due to insufficient voter participation.
With nearly all the votes counted, the referendum, which would have legalized abortion for whatever reason, up until the 10th week of pregnancy, had gained 58 % of the vote. The other 42% of voters came out against the proposal.
However, despite a multi-million dollar campaign on the part of the abortion industry and the socialist government, only 44% of the country’s 8.9 million registered voters participated. Under Portuguese law, a referendum must involve over half of the country’s registered voters in order to pass.
Socrates, for his part, says he will remain undeterred in his quest to change the law in Portugal. With the failure of his referendum, the Prime Minister has vowed to legalize abortion by way of parliament, a body over which his Socialist party holds strong control.
Under current law, abortion is allowed only in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or if the mother's health is in danger, and only in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
When one reads the results from the vote on the referendum in Portugal to legalize abortion, one can only wonder what happened to the hearts of this predominantly Catholic country. The Roman Catholic Church clearly condemns abortion in no uncertain terms. So what has happened to the hearts of the Portuguese people to not only vote for aborting their own children, but to have such a low voter turnout for a life and death issue like abortion?
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
Does anyone with a better grasp of the Portugese political situation know whether the low turnout was possibly due to a tactical decision not to vote on behalf of opponents of the amendment? I recall that the Italian referendum on assisted fertility back in 2005 was defeated as a result of many opponents of the proposal simply not voting, and thus making the referendum invalid.
Posted by: Zadok the Roman at Feb 12, 2007 10:25:30 AM
That last conclusion quote isn't really fair. After all, the Church in Italy was all for boycotting the IVF referendum. The public didn't vote in Portugal and the referendum failed because of that.
Does voting no to defeat the referendum carry greater moral victory than not voting and defeating the referendum?
Posted by: Jacob at Feb 12, 2007 10:38:36 AM
Uh, I doubt it ... Look at the numbers ... Do you think the pro-abortion voters, apparently the majority, also stayed away so the referendum would be invalidated?
Posted by: Jay at Feb 12, 2007 10:39:11 AM
Brings to mind the old maxim:
All that is needed for evil to fail is for good men to do nothing.
Posted by: Matt at Feb 12, 2007 11:25:39 AM
Well, looking at the numbers we see:
total registered voters:
8,900,000
total who voted (44%):
3,916,000
total who voted for abortion (58%):
2,271,280
total who voted against abortion (42%):
1,644,720
Now, if an additional 7% of the registered voting population had turned out (making 51% total) and voted against this referendum, that would have added 623,000 votes to the against tally, for a total of 2,267,720.
Which means the referendum would have passed by just over 3000 votes, and Portuguese Law would be that much more unfriendly to unborn life. So those who think that the "Italian" method might have been at play may well be right. The 623,000 "good" men who did not vote prevented this law from passing.
Posted by: Steve Cavanaugh at Feb 12, 2007 12:07:53 PM
Are you sure your news is up to date? I heard on the Radio 3 (UK) news three times this morning that Portugal had passed a bill legalising abortion up to ten weeks.
Posted by: Francesca at Feb 12, 2007 1:28:19 PM
It looks like the government is going ahead with legalising abortion in Portugal, despite the failure of the referendum.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewFlash.asp?Page=/ThisHour/Archive/NTH20070212z.html
Posted by: Francesca at Feb 12, 2007 1:32:09 PM
It looks like the government is going ahead with legalising abortion in Portugal, despite the failure of the referendum.
Those wacky socialists.
Posted by: BillyHW at Feb 12, 2007 1:38:33 PM
The Church in Portugal urged the faithful to boycott the referendum.
It's Our Lord's glory, but the war is not over with this victory.
Interestingly enough, yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
May Our Lady of Fatima pray for Portugal, a land she blessed through her apparition 90 years ago.
Posted by: Augustine at Feb 12, 2007 3:00:01 PM
