Portugal: abortion rights gains
The Portuguese parliament passed a bill February 4 that allows women to have abortions upon request up to the 10th week of pregnancy. Until now, Portugal has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, allowing abortion in such cases as fetus malformation or risk to the woman's life. Some government officials who oppose this change are pressuring parliament to call a national referendum -which would be the country's first - on the issue. Without a referendum to override the new abortion rights legislation, the law goes into effect 90 days after the laws passage.

Madrid cuts medicine subsidies
On February 11 the Spanish government approved a public health law that will require recipients to pay full price for 869 types of medicine considered "minor." Spain's state health system generally covers 60 percent of the cost of pharmaceuticals, 90 percent for chronic cases such as AIDS, and full cost for pensioners. In 1996 Madrid had floated the idea of a standard prescription charge, but backed down in the face of protests.

Egyptian farmers fight evictions
On February 10 farmers in Ibrahimiya, 62 miles north of Cairo, Egypt, threw stones at police who tried to oust a tenant farmer. Cops used tear gas in an attempt to break up the protest, killing one peasant. Under a new land law, owners can end tenant agreements and force peasant farmers to pay higher rents or leave the land.

Sierra Leone capital seized
After three days of heavy bombing and fighting, Nigerian- led forces took over the capital city of Freetown in Sierra Leone February 13. The invasion will now clear the way to reinstate the former president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a bourgeois politician who served as president of Sierra Leone for only one year. Last May Kabbah was ousted in a military coup that brought a junta into power. The invasion was organized under Ecomog, a so-called peacekeeping force made up of troops from several African countries and dominated by the Nigerian regime. Ecomog forces, with the blessings of Kabbah's regime and the United Nations Security Council, will be deployed throughout Sierra Leone to carry out the "disarmament and demobilization" of the population.

Workers in Brazil protest cuts in social security, job protections
Workers demonstrated outside the Congress building in Brasília, Brazil, February 11 over attacks in social security benefits and job security. Work stoppages were reported, and workers and pensioners threw counterfeit bills at politicians at the airport as they arrived to vote. The Congress approved a constitutional amendment February 12 as heavily armed cops surrounded the building. The new law raises the minimum retirement age to 55 for women and from 50 to 60 years for men. The previous system, won by workers in the 1950s, had allowed men and women to retire after 30 and 25 years of work respectively. Now the minimum time needed is 35 and 30 years. The law also abolishes other rights, including early retirement. Another part of the legislation, approved the day before, attacks job security for all public workers who previously acquired tenure after two years' service. The recent law now allows for public workers to be dismissed. Brazil's unemployment is at a record level of more than 7 percent and is expected to rise sharply this year.

110,000 women sterilized in Peru
The Peruvian government has allegedly organized a system of quotas that offers public health doctors promotions in exchange for convincing women, mostly in poor rural areas, to be sterilized. Since the Peruvian government started a campaign of public sterilization in 1995, the number of procedures has tripled to 110,000 in 1997 alone. The Peruvian newspaper El Comercio published a document that reports women were lied to and coerced into the sterilization procedure; and bribed offers of food; and forced sterilization without permission. There have been at least two reported deaths caused by the procedure and many charges of unsanitary conditions of doctors' facilities. Meanwhile, abortion rights are denied to women in Peru except in cases of medical necessity.

Iowa abortion rights victory
In a move that makes abortion more accessible for women, a federal judge ruled the city of Bettendorf, Iowa, unconstitutionally used zoning ordinances as a roadblock to a Planned Parenthood clinic that will provide abortions. On February 12 Judge Charles Wolle struck down the city's second attempt to block the clinic, ruling it had violated the constitutional rights of the clinic and women who would be served there.

Bettendorf is one of four cities on the border of Iowa and Illinois that make up the Quad Cities, with a combined population of 320,000 people. It was the largest metropolitan area in the country without abortion services.

The closest clinic is 50 miles away in Iowa City. Planned Parenthood said they will now open a clinic there. Antichoice forces promised to continue pickets at the proposed clinic in attempts to shut it down.

English-only bill fails in Utah
A Utah bill that would have made English the state's official language failed to move past the house committee February 3. The measure would have prohibited state agencies from conducting government business or printing information in languages other than English. Introduced last year, the proposed law is opposed by several groups representing oppressed nationalities, as well as public-health workers, teachers, and librarians.

Gay rights law overturned
Maine's gay rights law was overturned by referendum February 10 by a vote of 52 percent in favor. Only 30 percent of registered voters turned out. The gay rights legislation, which barred discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations, was passed last year. There are now only 10 states that have laws barring discrimination against homosexuals.

- MEGAN ARNEY

In Brief Photo Box
Around 1,000 people, including 36 students from Lino Padrón Rivera High School, demonstrated February 1 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, against a proposed rocket launch. The rocket contains fuel that, when mixed with the atmosphere, can produce hydrochloric acid. The banner reads, "Puerto Rico doesn't want to be another endangered species."  
 
 
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