The News
Tuesday 16 of April 2024

Chile Court Rules in Favor of Abortion in some Cases


A female protestor in favor of the change in law for abortion in Santiago, Chile,photo: AP/Esteban Félix
A female protestor in favor of the change in law for abortion in Santiago, Chile,photo: AP/Esteban Félix
The court's 6-4 vote accepts the constitutionality of a measure to legalize abortions when a woman's life is in danger

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chile’s Constitutional Court is upholding a measure that would end the country’s absolute ban on abortions.

The court’s 6-4 vote accepts the constitutionality of a measure to legalize abortions when a woman’s life is in danger, when a fetus is not viable and in cases of rape.

Congress recently approved the bill and President Michelle Bachelet has said she will sign it into law.

Chile legalized abortion for medical reasons in 1931, but the procedure was then banned under all circumstances in 1989 during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.