Chile takes steps to legalize abortion in certain cases

[sandensea]

Chile’s senate has narrowly passed a bill to legalize abortion in certain cases, in a win for President Michelle Bachelet’s center-left coalition and for rights groups that have campaigned for years against the country’s strict ban.

After a long and sometimes fractious overnight debate, the senate voted to legalize abortion when a woman’s life is in danger, when a fetus is non-viable and when a pregnancy results from rape.

Chile is one of only a handful of countries worldwide where abortion is illegal without exception. The ban was put in place during the closing days of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-90 dictatorship, and Bachelet pledged reform when she took office for the second time in 2014.

The University of Chile estimates that up to 100,000 abortions are performed annually in the country, compared to around 250,000 live births.

The bill will now be returned to Chile’s lower house to be reconciled with a version passed there. That is expected to happen within the week, allowing it to become law.

At: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/19/chile-abortion-mother-rape-life-legalization

[shenmue]

1. Thank goodness

[sandensea]

2. Absolutely.

It's more or less the same in most Catholic countries: abortion is VERY widely performed, sub rosa; but remains "illegal" typically because a few grandees and priests got together during some past dictatorship, and made it so.

Spain rescinded its ban in 2010 (before the Rajoy government), and most voters are glad they did. The number of abortions did not go up, and are now safer.