Contact: John Mallon, Human Life International, 405-720-2575, johnmallon@cox.net

FRONT ROYAL, Va., April 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- "Prime Minister Jose Socrates and President Anibal Cavaco Silva will be remembered in history as the men who gave legal sanction to the mass murder of Portuguese children" said The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International, (HLI).

Father Euteneuer was responding to Tuesday's press reports that Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva ratified a measure liberalizing Portugal's restrictive abortion laws. Portugal is one of Europe's most Catholic countries.

The law had been promoted by Prime Minister Jose Socrates and passed by Parliament in February to bring Portugal more "up to date" with its European neighbors. Socrates called the old laws "backward" and a "national disgrace."

Father Euteneuer responded by saying, "Any move liberalizing abortion is not human progress. That move, not the protection of life, is the genuine step backwards. HLI condemns this action in the strongest possible terms. History will remember Socrates as the one who gave Portuguese babies the cup of hemlock and Cavaco Silva as the one who signed their death warrants."

Founded in 1981, Human Life International is the world's largest pro-life, pro-family organization that is dedicated to defending life, faith and the family, with branches and affiliates around the world.