The Abortion ban in Portugal: safe, but not for long.

A narrow squeek this time around - but it won't last. Apparently this crisis was only averted by low voter turnout. The AP reports:

LISBON, Portugal - A national referendum to scrap Portugal's strict abortion law appeared headed to defeat Sunday because of low turnout, even though a majority of voters approved it. [More...(also contains a couple videos)]

Sadly, there's more to the story than that.

The Socialist prime minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates (yes - Socrates!), is a potent political force for abolishing the ban. And all evidence suggests that he'll use this vote, which fell below the 50% required voter turnout this time around, as a reason to push ahead with overturning the law in the next few months. [More.]

Zenit fills in more of the backstory with an inteview.

By all accounts, Portugal will soon join the majority of EU countries that have liberal abortion laws. After that, the only three hold-outs left are Ireland, Poland and Malta.

Update: Via Amy, commentary at Spero News.