| UK health and education organisations support call for Yes vote in Portugal's referendum on abortion |
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Press Release An open letter from the British pro-choice movement We, the undersigned British health, education and student organisations, welcome the opportunity for the people of Portugal to make their choice on abortion. We support the call for a Yes vote in February’s referendum to reduce the restrictions on Portuguese women’s abortion rights and hope that they will take this step to liberalise Portugal’s abortion law. Control over whether, when, and how many children a woman has is crucial to every other aspect of her life and is a basic human right. According to the Associação Para o Planeamento da Família in 2004, current abortion law in Portugal is not fully implemented, due to a large number of conscientious objections, and to the lack of further regulations; as a consequence, the majority of abortions in Portugal are performed illegally by doctors, midwives and nurses in private clinics. Additionally, the World Health Organisation has reported the deaths of 68,000 women worldwide in 2005 as a result of unsafe abortion. We believe that restriction of abortion does not lead to less abortion, it merely endangers women. We hope that the referendum in February will be successful, and that the women of Portugal will no longer be forced to face the health risks and hardship created by restrictive abortion laws. Messages of support for a Yes vote have been pouring in to our offices from across Britain and we will watch with keen interest the results of this referendum. We hope the women of Portugal will be afforded the same respect, dignity and human rights as many of their counterparts across the world.
Anne Quesney - Abortion Rights, For further information and interviews please contact Abortion Rights at choice@abortionrights.org.uk or telephone +44 (0)207923 9792 or mobile +44(0)7885 981 437 |
