LISBON - In a cliff-hanger vote, Portugal's parliament has rejected a left-wing attempt to liberalise abortion that would have virtually allowed it on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. After six hours of often heated debate, parliament voted by just 112 to 111 on Thursday against a call by the Young Socialists that would have swept away all restrictions to abortion in the first three months.
A virtually identical proposal by the small Communist Party was rejected by a wider margin in a free vote. But a third resolution extending the period from 16 to 24 weeks in which abortions can be carried out in cases of a deformed foetus was approved by a big majority.
