Portugal's abortion law 10 years on - women are safe - far fewer operations

Since the decriminalisation of abortion in Portugal, only one woman has died as a result of the procedure and the number of abortions has dropped year-on-year.

Ten years after the Portuguese decided by referendum to decriminalise abortion up to the tenth weeks of pregnancy, data shows an end to maternal mortality.

The abortion issue went to the nation in a referendum on  February 11, 2007, and 59% voted in favour. The result was the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Act, which has been in force since 2008.

The new law expanded the then current system of exceptions which restricted abortion to cases of foetal malformation, risk to the mother, and pregnancy as a result of rape.

Since women have been able to get abortion on demand, the death rate from complications reduced to zero, with one exception, and the demand for clandestine abortions evaporated.

According to data compiled by the Portuguese Directorate General of Health (DGS), between 2008 and 2015 there were 145,000 voluntary abortions carried out in the country with one woman dying in 2010, of toxic shock, something that happens in one of every 100,000 cases.

These figures contrast with the 14 women who died as a result of back street abortions between 2001 and 2007, according to estimates as there are no certain figures.

Luís Graça, the president of the Portuguese Society of Obstetrics and Maternal-Foetal Medicine, said the statistics show how the number of abortions has declined every year since 2011, with 19,921 cases at this peak in the economic crisis.

"As of 2011, the number of total abortions has been declining. I think this is going to stabilise at around 15,000 cases per year," said Graça.

The DGS also points to the lack of repeats, as 70% of women who had an abortion in 2015 did so for the first time, and that almost 96% of women who underwent an abortion procedure subsequently used a contraceptive method.

But the president of the Portuguese Association for Life, Isilda Pegado, says clandestine abortion is still going on.

"What we had in 2007 was the liberalisation of abortion. There is no support for motherhood. It was a bad decision and we have lost almost 150,000 lives," says Pegado, adding that the legal process obliges the woman to have a "reflection period" of at least three days between the consultation and the subsequent abortion.

This could be reinforced with more psychological support to further reduce abortions, Duarte Vilar, director of the Association for Family Planning, says there is still room to improve the law.

In Catholic Portugal, there are 1,300 conscientious objectors among gynecologists, obstetricians and family doctors, a figure that has given rise to a degree of conflict.

For example, in the municipalities of Cascais, Caldas de Rainha, Évora, Guarda and Viseu, among others, there are several obstetrics services where there are only conscientious objectors, so women are sent to other hospitals or private clinics rather than being treated in their local hospital.

Overall, the 2008 law has reduced deaths and the number of abortions which now are carried out in safe and hygienic conditions, this is what the population voted for and this is what has been achieved.

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