Chile lawmakers authorize abortion in limited cases
Santiago : Lawmakers in Chile's lower house of Congress on Thursday approved abortion in limited circumstances, the first step towards lifting a decades-long ban on the practice in the socially conservative South American country.
Under the measure approved by the Chamber of Deputies, abortion will be allowed in cases of rape, risk to the mother, or when the fetus is no longer considered viable. The Senate must now approve the draft.
"Incredible -- the motion is passed," said the leader of the Chamber of Deputies, Marco Antonio Nunez, after a heated debate of the draft submitted by the government of President Michelle Bachelet.
The deputies then voted to approve each of the circumstances under which abortion will be allowed. The measure now goes to the Senate for a vote.
Abortion had been legal in Chile before 1989 in cases of risk to the mother or an unviable fetus.
But ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet outlawed the practice completely before leaving power, and the prohibition remained unchanged during more than two decades of democratic rule because of pressure from the Roman Catholic Church and conservative groups.
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