‘Women who abort in Portugal can still be criminalized for it’
In Portugal, the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVG) carried out by a doctor, in an officially recognized health establishment and with the consent of the pregnant woman, is since 2007 not punishable in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Between 2007 – after the decriminalisation of abortion – and 2024 there were 159 ‘abortion crimes’ registered in the country and 33 convictions related to these cases. The data comes from a recent report by Amnesty International on IVG in Portugal.
The report assumes that these figures, collected from the Directorate-General of Justice, ‘do not allow us to know if the defendants were pregnant women who sought, tried or carried out an interruption or health professionals who may have assisted, tried or carried out these procedures and under what conditions.’
‘But the most important is’ – underlines Inês Subtil – coordinator of the investigation – ‘that a woman who aborts can still be criminalized for it.’
Amnesty Portugal, therefore, recommends total decriminalization of IVG with its withdrawal from the Penal Code and ensuring its application to all people involved – the pregnant woman as well as health professionals assisting them.
Another fundamental issue the report highlights is the refusal of medical personnel to perform abortion procedures for reasons of conscience. The General Inspection of Health Activities (IGAS) estimates that more than 70% of medical specialists in Obstetrics-Gynaecology – who work at the National Health Service (SNS) – are conscientious objectors to IVG.
This will be one of the reasons why many Portuguese women turn to Spain, where the gestational age limit is higher. The Spanish Ministry of Health declared that in five years (2019-2023), 2525 Portuguese women had their pregnancy interrupted in Spain. In most cases the termination of pregnancy occurred after 10 weeks.
Spain decriminalized abortion in 2010 as long as it is practised within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The same gestational age limit for legal access to abortion can be found in France and Romania.
In Germany and most other European countries, the term limit is 12 weeks. The longest term limit is in the Netherlands (22 weeks in practice).
Hence that Amnesty Portugal– just as the Socialist Party (PS) in parliament – advocates a revision of the law to extend the current gestational limit of 10 weeks of pregnancy, as it is now one of the most restrictive in Europe.
But with Portugal firmly moving to the right, anyone hoping for changes in the abortion law in this deeply Catholic country has to wait for an indefinite period of time. Just like in euthanasia.
Enjoy your week Approveite a semana (pic Paula Rego)