Dear Colleague:
Partisans of life still have a chance to keep abortion-on-demand out of
the land of Fatima.
Steven W. Mosher
President
PRI Weekly Briefing
16 February 2007
Vol. 9, No. 7
Abortion Dominoes in Europe
By Joseph A. D'Agostino
The global hand of the human extermination movement has taken hold of
Portugal, a small country that has long had a low birthrate. Only four
nations in Europe offer strong protection in law for unborn children:
Ireland, Portugal, Poland, and Malta. The European Union and the
pro-abortion organizations it generously funds, along with the United
Nations and others, have been trying for decades to get these EU members
to conform to their abortion orthodoxy. Now, in the wake of a failed
referendum last Sunday, they are on the verge of succeeding in one of
those nations.
The referendum legalizing abortion-on-demand in the first 10 weeks
received the approval of 59% of voters and the disapproval of only 41%.
Yet, since so few voters showed up to vote-turnout was only 44%--the
referendum failed. No matter. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates
says he will use the referendum to justify what he has long wanted to do
anyway, and get a law through parliament legalizing abortion in the first
10 weeks. This unwise leader plans to do so by July.
In this 90th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal
may be about to turn her back on the Catholic Faith and life itself. The
legalization of abortion would only be another symptom of Portugal's
terminal decline, another signpost on her way to eternal oblivion.
Portugal's birthrate dropped below replacement level over 20 years ago and
now stands at a meager 1.5 children per woman. An astonishing 30% of
Portuguese will be 65 or over by 2050, way up from 17% today-and that
assumes that Portugal's birthrate will start rising by 2015, a
questionable prediction. More likely, it will continue downward, making
Portugal's median age 54 by 2050 (right now, it's an already-high 38).
So, setting moral principle aside, is this the time to legalize abortions
of convenience in Portugal? Portuguese law already allows abortions for
the health of the mother and for rape. The birthrate is suicidally low.
Portuguese women can and do pop over the border to Spain for abortions,
anyway. What rational reason can there be for making abortion-on-demand a
priority in this dying land?
Some "yes" voters for the referendum may have been confused by the
government's publicity campaign, which emphasized ending unsafe illegal
abortions that sometimes result in the mother's death. The government
argued that since these abortions occur anyway, they may as well be safely
regulated and taxed. And some pro-legalization campaigners argued that
legalization would reduce the number of abortions, though that has been
proven historically false.
"We believe that those that voted 'yes' to relax the abortion laws were in
fact voting against illegal abortions, we in the Church support that,"
said Carlos Azevedo, Church spokesman in Portugal. "What we want to see
is improved education among the young and improved support for mothers."
Yet it is hard to believe that with a strong pro-life campaign in Portugal
spreading the word, most of the 59% who voted yes don't favor liberalizing
abortion laws. But it's possible that enough people were confused and
enough too lazy to vote that only a minority of all Portuguese voters
really favors what the referendum does.
"The favorable result for the 'yes' is a sign of accentuated cultural
mutation by the Portuguese people, which we have to confront with
realism," said the Portuguese bishops' conference in a statement. It
blamed "the globalization of ways of thinking and opinions by the media"
and said, "We appeal to doctors and health professionals not to hesitate
in turning to the statute of 'conscientious objector' that the law
guarantees."
The Dean of the College of Medicine of Portugal said that its Code of
Ethics says life begins at conception and thus he expected most doctors to
refuse to perform abortions. However, abortionists haven't wasted any
time, already promising to build a $3.5 million abortion clinic in Lisbon.
Sadly, the supposedly pro-life leader of the primary opposition party in
Portugal, Luis Marques Mendes of the Social Democratic Party, has already
caved, saying he will not fight abortion legalization now that the
referendum received a majority of those who voted. Instead, in the mantra
of conservative politicians everywhere, he wants to extract a small
concession or two from the Left. "The will of the Portuguese must be
respected," he said. "It's important to include in the final version of
the new law a compulsory period of counseling for the woman who is
thinking of having an abortion."
Portugal's president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, is close to Marques Mendes and
could veto a new law. Yet the main political opposition in parliament is
giving up before the parliamentary battle has even begun.
But there is still hope. Pro-lifers in Portugal organized to fight the
referendum and can remain organized to fight the bill in parliament.
Hopefully, they will understand the reality that in this fallen world,
politicians respond weakly to appeals based on principle--"Defend
life!"--and more strongly to threats--"Vote against this or we'll vote
against you."
The Left never gives up. Portugal voted down an abortion referendum in
1998, so they tried again this year. They did the same with divorce in
Ireland until they won there. We must take the same attitude, remembering
the promise made at Fatima: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will
triumph."
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the
Population Research Institute.
________
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Va. 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
Website: www.pop.org
_________
(c) 2007 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted.
Redistribute widely. Credit required.
_________
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to
http://pop.org/donate.cfm. All donations
(of any size) are welcomed and
appreciated. _________
To subscribe to the Weekly Briefing, go to:
http://pop.org/subscribe-weekly.cfm or email us at
pri@pop.org and say
"Add me to your Weekly Briefing."
The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human
rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending
counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of
"overpopulation."