Chile takes steps to legalize abortion in certain cases

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