LISBON, Portugal — Voters failed to overturn Portugal's strict abortion law Sunday because of low turnout at the polls, but the prime minister nonetheless vowed to relax the restriction through legislation in the conservative Roman Catholic country.
With nearly all the votes counted, almost 60 percent of voters approved the referendum allowing women to opt for abortions up to the 10th week of pregnancy, while slightly more than 40 percent opposed it.
However, under Portuguese law more than 50 percent of the country's 8.9 million registered voters must participate in a referendum to make the ballot valid. The turnout Sunday was 44 percent.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates, leader of the center-left Socialist Party, said he was undeterred by the failure of the referendum and would stick to his pre-ballot pledge to change the law through parliament.
"The people have spoken and they have spoken in a clear voice," Socrates said.
It strikes me as ironic when a country with an overwhelming Catholic majority fails to vote on such an important issue, though the low turn out has evidently slowed the liberalization of Portugal's abortion laws. However, juging from the percentage of those in favor of allowing abortion, there appears to be the phenomenon at work of allowing popular politics to inform religious and moral beliefs, which is something that we here in the US are not unfamiliar with.
All the signs point to a greater need for evangelization in the world today. It is no longer enough simply to be religious, we must carry a living faith to the world. We must tell of the Good News that will transform the face of the world by transforming individual lives. The time has come to stand up for all human life as sacred. We can no longer say we are opposed to abortion if we fail to have a consistent ethic of life. Our challenge is to make the world a welcoming place for life.
It is a great pity that a Catholic nation has turned to apathy--yet more of a sign of a deep need for meaning in the world today.
It seems that all formerly Catholic nations are suffering from apathy. I fear it's because the Church is preaching to the choir, where it's comfortable. Or perhaps the world is completely incognizant, now, of luciferian interference, since it speaks with a reasonable and rational and even quasi-compassionate voice, like, "You're too young to ruin your life with a baby," or "She wouldn't want to live this way," or "But we (via your non-insurance status) feel you are not a candidate for this (lifesaving) procedure," or "Better that one man shoud die, than a whole nation."
I just hope Padraigh doesn't hear of Ireland turning a few churches into pubs...
Posted by: C | February 12, 2007 at 12:04 AM
I believe missionaries need to focus on the western world as much as, if not more than the underdeveloped countries.
Posted by: forget me not | February 13, 2007 at 05:56 AM