The law was approved with the votes of the Socialist Party, the Communist-Greens, and the Left Bloc, as well as three dissident votes of the Social Democratic Party, a center-right political force.
The rest of the Social Democrats voted against the pill, calling it a “concealed method of abortion.” The new legislation authorizes the free distribution of the pill in pharmacies, hospitals and health centers.
The Communist-Greens and Left Bloc, authors of the law, succeeded in obtaining the backing of the semiofficial Socialist Party, despite the fact that its leader and prime minister, Antonio Guterres, is a practicing Catholic and works publicly in favor of life.
