LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Left-of-center parties in Portugal’s Parliament have used their majority to overturn presidential vetoes on bills that granted adoption rights to same-sex couples and removed some abortion restrictions.
The legal changes give gay couples the same adoption rights as heterosexuals and waive mandatory counselling and payments for women seeking an abortion.
Lawmakers with the governing Socialist Party and its allies in the Communist Party and radical Left Bloc voted Feb. 10 to keep the abortion changes. Some members of center-right parties also supported lifting the alterations on adoption.
The right-of-center head of state used his veto powers last month to block the legislation following Parliament’s initial approval of it in November. The new laws will now come into force later this month.
