Lisbon, Portugal, Jan 30, 2007 / 09:42 am
As the vote on a referendum on abortion nears in Portugal, a new poll has revealed that support for abortion has dropped by seven points. Although the results indicate the measure would pass with a slight majority of 54%, pro-life forces are hopeful a defeat of the referendum is within reach.
The newspaper “Diario de Noticias” published the results of the poll taken by the Marktest firm, which indicated 33% would vote against the legalization of abortion and that 13% still remain undecided or would abstain from voting.
Two months ago 63% said they would vote for the referendum and 27% against it.
On February 11 Portuguese voters will go to the poll to decide whether or not to legalize abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy.
This past weekend some 15,000 people marched through downtown Lisbon to voice their opposition to abortion. In 1998 a similar referendum failed to pass, but this year the Socialist government decided it would re-introduce the proposal.