By Alison Roberts BBC News, Lisbon

The campaign is the second on the issue in less than a decade

The campaign for Sunday's referendum on abortion reform in Portugal ended on Friday with both sides confident.

Its laws are among the strictest in Europe with abortion illegal, except in certain very restricted circumstances.

After a series of cases in which women were tried for having abortions, voters now get their second chance in nine years to change the law.

Campaigners for change are encouraged by opinion polls which suggest that 60% of those who plan to vote back reform.

The campaign has been a lively and often passionate campaign and more informative than the last one in 1998.

But for many voters, perhaps for that very reason, it has also been more confusing.

The proposal being voted on on Sunday is literally to legalise abortions carried out in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in a registered clinic.

But since the wording says nothing about the woman having to justify her decision, those against the reform say it is abortion on demand.

Although the idea of sending someone to prison for having an abortion is universally unpopular, many in this strongly Catholic country want the crime on the statute books to stop abortion becoming routine.

As well as arguing that life must be protect, the "no" camp has pledged to work harder than ever to ensure that women can have and raise children in decent conditions in a country where as many as two million live in poverty.

Reformers say the law is unjust as poorer women can't afford to visit the well equipped private clinics that carry out illegal abortions or to cross the border to Spain as thousands do each year.

Some have abortions done in insanitary conditions and risk ending up with infections or other serious complications from which they may die.