Portugal's parliament voted yesterday to relax the country's tough abortion laws, allowing pregnancies to be terminated virtually on demand in the first few weeks.
The ruling Socialists, who are just short of an outright majority in parliament, joined with the small Communist Party to push the controversial bill through the 230-seat Chamber of Deputies.
The new law, presented by the Socialists' youth wing, will allow abortions to be carried out in public hospitals during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, with the sole condition that the mother first attend a national counselling centre.
Until now, abortions were only permitted in Catholic Portugal when the mother's physical or psychological health was considered to be at serious risk or in cases of rape, and then only in the first three months.
Thereafter, pregnancies could be terminated only when the mother's life was felt to be in danger.
The bill, which passed by 116 votes to 107, now goes to the committee stage where it will be voted on clause by clause.
But only minor changes can be adopted.
Supporters of the move said that Portugal's previous legislation, similar to that of neighbouring Spain, left too much power of decision in the hands of individual doctors.
Unlike in Spain, the previous law was rarely used, and as a result, thousands of illegal abortions were carried out each year, with bungled illicit operations being a leading cause of maternity deaths.
Only some 280 abortions were registered in Portugal last year against tens of thousands in Spain, which has a population only four times larger.
Earlier, hundreds of antiabortion activists made a last minute attempt to block the easing of one of Europe's most restrictive abortion laws, silently marching with placards and coloured balloons bearing slogans against the proposed change.
The conservative opposition Social Democrats opposed any change to the law.
The legislation carries prison sentences of up to three years for illegal abortions.
A similar attempt to change the rules narrowly failed last year partly because of the firm and public opposition of the Prime Minister, Mr Antonio Guterres, a practising Catholic.
But Mr Guterres, who has been in mourning following the death of his wife early last week from a liver disease, took a lower profile in the run-up to the latest vote.