Chile’s President Proposes End To Total Abortion Ban

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Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet has announced the plans to end a total ban on abortions in the predominantly Roman Catholic country. BBC report:

Ms Bachelet has tabled a bill in Congress to legalise abortion in cases of rape or when there is a threat to the mother’s or the baby’s life. Abortion is punishable in Chile by up to five years in jail. The absolute ban of abortion puts the lives of thousands of Chilean women at risk every year, said Ms Bachelet.

She went on national television to announce the plans. “Facts have shown that the absolute criminalization of abortion has not stopped the practice,” she said. “This is a difficult situation and we must face it as a mature country.”

The BBC’s Gideon Long says the draft law faces opposition from Chile’s powerful Catholic Church, from conservatives in Congress and from some inside Ms Bachelet’s own coalition, led by the Socialist Party.

Ms Bachelet’s proposal would allow abortion to be carried out up to the 12th week of pregnancy if the mother’s life is at risk, when the foetus is so badly deformed that the baby wouldn’t survive or in cases of rape. For girls up to the age of 14, termination would be legal until the 18th week.