Portugal referendum on Abortion thwarted by Supreme Court

The BBC on 29th October reported that Portugal's constitutional court has thwarted the government's plan to hold a referendum next month on relaxing the country's strict abortion laws.

Judges said the vote could not be held before September 2006 because the same referendum had been rejected by the president in the current legislature.

The government wants voters to decide whether abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy should become legal.

Abortions are currently only legal in certain situations such as rape.

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Malta, who signed up to join the EU in 2004, negotiated a clause safeguarding its ban on abortion. In Poland, abortion is once again illegal.

Ireland currently relies on Protocol 17 to the Treaty of Rome, which says community law cannot override the Irish Constitution's prohibition of abortion.