http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3496797.stm
Portugal abortion women cleared A Portuguese court has acquitted seven women accused of having abortions. The doctor who allegedly carried out the abortions, and nine "accomplices" including the husbands and boyfriends of the women, were also cleared.
The case reignited a familiar debate in the Roman Catholic country, where abortion is outlawed except in cases of rape or serious foetal disability.
Pro-abortion activists are lobbying for a referendum on abortion. A referendum in 1998 was narrowly defeated.
The seven women were all accused of voluntarily undergoing abortions at the high-street clinic of a doctor in the fishing town of Aveiro, some 250km (155 miles) north of Lisbon.
The final verdict found proof that the doctor had carried out abortions, but no proof that the accused women had undergone the procedure.
This is a historic decision
Odete Santos
Communist lawmaker Despite being acquitted, said Judge Paulo Teixeira, the doctor would be penalised by having his car, medical instruments and some money obtained through his illicit behaviour seized by the state.Had they been found guilty, the women could have faced jail terms of up to three years and the doctor up to eight years.
About 500 pro-abortion demonstrators clapped and celebrated outside the courtroom in Aveiro as they heard the news of the acquittals.
"This is a historic decision," communist member of parliament Odete Santos said, according to news agency AFP.
"It is an exemplary decision. I am very satisfied."
Petition
No jail terms had been sought for the nine alleged accomplices: parents or partners of the women who were accused of accompanying them to the clinic, the doctor's sister and two of the clinic's employees.
However, it was the first time anyone has been charged as an accomplice under Portugal's abortion laws.
Abortion has been illegal in Portugal for over 100 years, but the law in its current state goes back 20 years to 1984, when abortion was permitted in exceptional circumstances.
Five women died and some 11,000 women required hospital treatment after clandestine abortions last year, according to health ministry figures.
Last month, anti-abortion campaigners submitted a petition they claimed contained 121,000 signatures to the Portuguese parliament, demanding it debate holding another national referendum on abortion.
The 1998 referendum was defeated by 51% to 49%.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3496797.stm
Published: 2004/02/17 18:00:10 GMT
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Portugal abortion women cleared
A Portuguese court has acquitted seven women accused of having abortions.
The doctor who allegedly carried out the abortions, and nine "accomplices" including the husbands and boyfriends of the women, were also cleared. -
Ignored One.