Portugal's Parliament has approved a
bill that allows gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.
Lawmakers also approved a bill that
permits lesbians to conceive children through medically assisted
fertilization.
Portugal became the sixth European
country and the eighth nation in the world to allow gay couples to
marry with passage of a marriage bill in 2010.
In 2013, the Portuguese Parliament
approved a law that allows married gay couples to adopt the children
of their spouses but stopped short of giving them equal adoption
rights to heterosexual couples.
The policy changes were approved a
month after voters headed to the polls. Members of the Socialist
Party, Communist Party and Left Bloc vowed to approved the changes if
elected.
Detailed voting figures on the bills
have not been announced, the AP
reported.