KEY POINTS:
LISBON - Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said today he would ask parliament to vote to lift a ban on abortion despite a referendum on the issue looking likely to fail due to low voter turnout.
"The law will now be discussed and approved in parliament. Our interest is to fight clandestine abortion and we have to produce a law that respects the result of the referendum," Prime Minister Socrates said in a televised speech.
"The people spoke with a clear voice," said Socrates, whose Socialists have a majority in parliament.
Up to 57.4 per cent of the electorate in the traditionally Catholic country abstained, according to an exit poll by Eurosondagem for SIC television channel.
An exit poll by state RTP television channel and the Catholic University showed at least 56 per cent of voters failed to turn out.
If the turnout is below 50 per cent the vote will be invalid, as was the case in a similar referendum in 1998 when only 32 per cent of the electorate voted. It rained through the day in most parts of the country, discouraging voters.
Opinion polls before today had shown a majority of voters in favour of making abortion legal in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
"In the best case scenario there will be 37 per cent (voter turnout)," Nuno Matos told SIC television.
If the turnout is below 50 per cent the vote will be invalid, as was the case in a similar referendum in 1998 when only 32 per cent of the electorate voted.
It rained in many parts of the country through the day, discouraging voters.
Portugal is among a small group of European countries, including Ireland and Poland, that still ban most abortions. It allows pregnancies to be terminated only in cases of rape, a deformed foetus or if the woman's health is at risk.
Devout Catholics at the Sanctuary of Fatima north of Lisbon, where the Virgin Mary was reported to have appeared six times to three shepherd children in 1917, prayed for the unborn child. "Born by God's will," read large posters with pictures of babies in front of the shrine.
"We voted for life, which is our duty," said a nun as she left a polling booth near Fatima, Portugal's main Catholic site.
Campaigners hoping to legalize abortion have focused on the estimated 23,000 clandestine abortions that take place every year, something Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates has called "Portugal's most shameful wound".
Jail threat
Under the current law women can be jailed if they abort and a few years ago a nurse who carried out abortions was sent to prison.
The "yes" campaigns' message that legalisation could end back-street abortions appeared to be working on some.
"I voted yes and will always vote yes," said Laurinda Duarte on her way to church. "Abortions will always take place so why not vote to allow women to carry them out under decent conditions? I am a Catholic but that does not mean I am not free to vote."
Voting picked up through the day as morning rains ebbed and leaders on both sides of the campaign urged people to cast their ballots. "We cannot let others decide for us," said Socrates.
Catholic cardinal Jose Policarpo, the patriarch of Lisbon, said Sunday's vote, which ended at 1900 GMT was a "vote of conscience". The first results will come in from 2000 GMT.
Liberals, led by the urban young, hope Portugal will end a ban they see as antiquated.
But Catholic leaders have voiced concerns that a legalization of abortion could sweep aside other traditional values in Portugal, which is western Europe's poorest country and one of its most conservative.
"No" campaigners have said a vote to lift the ban will increase the number of abortions and raise state health costs.
"I voted against legalising abortions because I believe it will trivialise the practice," said Marta Paselar, as she left the voting booth with her husband.
- REUTERS
