- Title: URUGUAY: Uruguyan Senate votes to legalize early abortions
- Date: 17th October 2012
- Summary: MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY (OCTOBER 17, 2012) (REUTERS) OUTSIDE OF LEGISLATIVE PALACE GENERAL VIEW OF SENATE GENERAL VIEW OF SENATORS FROM THE PARTIDO COLORADO GENERAL VIEW OF SENATORS FROM THE PARTIDO NACIONAL GENERAL VIEW OF SENATORS FROM THE FRENTE AMPLIO SENATE VOTING APPROVAL OF THE LAW MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY (OCTOBER 15, 2012) (REUTERS) FRENTE AMPLIO SENATOR CONSTANZA MO
- Embargoed: 1st November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Uruguay
- Country: Uruguay
- Topics: Health
- Reuters ID: LVAAOX06J4UTHWG3EFBZQFTSHPYQ
- Story Text: Uruguay's Congress voted narrowly on Wednesday (October 17) to legalize abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a rare move in largely Catholic Latin America that underscores the country's liberal leanings.
The Senate voted 17 to 14 in favour of the bill, which was passed by the lower house last month after 14 hours of debate.
President Jose Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla fighter, has said he will sign the bill into law.
"Legalising voluntary abortion assures medical attention to the women who want to interrupt their pregnancy and assures, furthermore, that women can interrupt the pregnancy by their own choice - whether they are older or younger or have some handicap that is not compatible with being a mother. It means we are assuring that women's choice will prevail in all cases," said one of the country's leading pro-choice advocates, Frente Amplio senator Constanza Moreira.
"They are the sexual and reproductive rights of women. No woman can be obligated to carry out a pregnancy she does not want. That is violence against women. And, well, separating women from their bodies and giving them the right to not just be a body where a future life can be held has taken many years," added Moreira.
Uruguay's legislature passed a similar bill in 2008 but then-President Tabare Vazquez, an oncologist, vetoed it. Leading opposition parties have said they will push for a referendum to overturn the new law.
"For us and for the Partido Nacional, conception is the beginning of life. In this case, this is an essential and central value for our Christian civilisation and that's why we voted against it. We've also argued that little effort has been into getting pregnant women help in giving birth and helping them put the child up for adoption or help them to be mothers," said one of the country's anti-abortion leaders, Partido Nacional senator Luis Alberto Lacalle.
Legislators in favor of legalizing abortion had to make concessions to muster the congressional majority needed to push through a new law, four years after Vazquez's veto.
Under the new bill, a woman can choose to end her pregnancy during the first 12 weeks of gestation but she must meet with a team of health professionals, who by law should discourage the abortion, and then reflect on the decision for five days.
A recent survey by local pollster Cifra showed 52 percent of Uruguayans believed abortion should be legalized while 34 percent were opposed.
On the streets of the nation's capital, Montevideo, Uruguayans weighed in about the new law.
"I agree with legalising abortion because I think it's the right of each woman to decide what happens with her own body," said Fernanda Alves.
"I think it's good, because there are people who don't have a way to take care of their kids and they abandon them," said Edgardo Rivas.
"I don't agree because it doesn't seem fair. It's an opportunity at life," said Adriana Castano.
The 1938 statute currently in effect made abortions a crime with a handful of exceptions, including cases of rape and when a woman's health is at serious risk.
"I think it's bad to take a life, but I think each woman must decide, and it's dangerous for it to be illegal because lives are at risk. I prefer that they decide and have professionals help them," Guzman Rompoldi.
Latin America is home to about half of the world's Roman Catholics and the Church is opposed to abortion under any circumstances but Uruguay - a country of 3.2 million people squeezed between Brazil and Argentina - has a strong secular tradition.
The only other countries in Latin America where women can abort during normal pregnancies are communist-ruled Cuba and former British colony Guyana. Mexico City allows abortion in the first 12 weeks. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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