More than 1,000 women in Portugal had to be hospitalized last year due to complications following back-street abortions in a country whose laws forbid legal abortion, health statistics revealed on Wednesday.
The number of clandestine abortions annually in Portugal is reckoned at between approximately 20,000 and 40,000.
A Lisbon court on Tuesday acquitted a woman charged as a teenager with illegally terminating her pregnancy by taking pills used to treat stomach ulcers, in the latest case to fuel debate on Portugal's strict anti-abortion laws.
A judge found the accused not guilty for lack of proof.
The practice of abortion is illegal in Portugal except when the mother's life is in danger or in certain specified conditions, such as the risk of damage to physical or mental health, sexual violence, or possible congenital deformity.
Pro-abortion campaigners in Portugal argue that the laws force thousands of women into life-threatening operations in back-street clinics, often in highly unsanitary conditions. But anti-abortion activists argue the procedure should remain a crime because it puts an end to a human life.
1,000 women hospitalized after abortions
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