One day after voting to legalize abortion (due to low turnout, the vote is not legally binding), an earthquake shook Portugal yesterday. No damage was reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 1035 GMT 335 kms (210 miles) from Lisbon and 345 km (215 miles) north-west of Casablanca in Morocco. Portugal’s interior ministry said there was no evidence of damage or injuries.
Poland, Malta, and Ireland have similar bans on abortion, but Portugal is the only country that actively prosecutes those who have abortions as well as anyone who performs the abortion or someone who aides and abets them.
As late as five years ago, 49 people went on trial in the north of the country alongside the 17 women who had aborted at a clinic in the town of Maia.
Doctors, pharmacists, and even taxi drivers who had transported them faced the judges and several were convicted.
The main defendant, midwife Maria de Ceu Ribeira, was sentenced to more than eight years in jail.
