The “victory” however, is more of a short-term success than a conquest. Unfortunately a majority of those who did turn out to the polls voted in favor of legalizing abortion on demand, and now the leftist socialist government has interpreted that small plurality of votes as a mandate to legalize it through the Parliament. The weak-kneed politicians were testing the political waters with a popular referendum, and now the people’s apathy and pro-abortion sentiment will embolden them to act legislatively. Portugal’s abortion extremist Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, has said that the country’s lack of abortion on demand is “a national disgrace” and has vowed to bring legislation to the Parliament for a vote as soon as he can.

In virtually all cases of abortion legalization there is one truth that stands out: the people of a country never clamor for abortion—it is always an elite group that imposes it on an unwilling or at least apathetic people. In this case, only about a quarter of the 8.5 million Portuguese voters voted in favor of abortion and the government now calls that a mandate.

Thanks go to the leaders of the Catholic Church in Portugal, principally His Eminence, Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo, who led the opposition to this referendum. Scores of pro-life leaders also spent and consumed themselves at this critical moment for their babies and deserve deepest praise. Their battle however is not finished yet.

Mr. Joseph Meaney reports today from the front lines of the battle:

“The pro-lifers here ran a valiant campaign. Raymond de Souza said it was the best organized campaign he had ever seen. It was ignorance of what was at stake that led over 56% of the voters to sit out the vote on a very rainy day all over the country. The full weight of the Socialist Party machine and all the other left wing parties, as well as the mass media, was unleashed in the last week to support abortion and was enough to get what looked like a majority of voters in favor of legalizing abortion.

Now, the Socialists are determined to take their small plurality of support from the referendum and use it as a mandate to pass a law with their majority in Parliament. There is probably only one party that will actively fight them, so they have the ability to change the abortion law. It is possible the president may resist signing it, since he is a Christian Democrat.”

As you can see, prayer is still needed for the people of Portugal to keep the abortion demon at bay.

For further information please see:

http://www.lifenews.com/int180.html