Chilean lawmakers have approved a bill that would legalize abortion in limited circumstances and end the socially conservative country's status as the last in South America with a blanket ban on the procedure.

The measure approved late Wednesday allows abortions when a woman's life is in danger, when a fetus is not viable and in cases of rape. President Michelle Bachelet, a physician and former head of U.N. Women, backs the bill and has said she will sign it into law.

It must still be approved by the Constitutional Tribunal, however, and opposition senators argue that the measure violates the constitution.

Chile legalized abortion for medical reasons in 1931, but the procedure was then banned under all circumstances during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

The bill's passage comes as views continue to shift on social issues once considered taboo in the heavily Roman Catholic nation.

Chile only began to allow divorce in 2004. In 2015, Congress recognized civil unions for same-sex couples. And recently it became the first country in Latin America to allow the sale of cannabis-based medicines at pharmacies.

Chile is one of four countries that currently prohibit abortion in all cases, according to the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, though a handful of others have rules so restrictive that they amount to de facto bans.

Women who get abortions in Chile are subject to up to five years in jail, as are medical personnel who assist with the procedure. By law, hospitals are obligated to report suspected abortions to police. </s> Chile's Congress has approved a bill that would legalize abortion in limited circumstances — ending the country's status as the last in South America to ban all abortions.

The measure approved by lawmakers late Wednesday allows abortions when a mother's life is in danger, when the fetus is not viable and in cases of rape.

President Michelle Bachelet backs the measure and has said she would sign it into law. But it still needs to be approved by Chile's Constitutional Tribunal.

Chile legalized abortion for medical reasons in 1931. But abortion was banned under all circumstances during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. </s> SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Chamber of Deputies fell one vote short of passing the Senate version of a bill easing the country's strict abortion law, a surprise setback to President Michelle Bachelet and abortion rights advocates.

The Senate narrowly passed a bill on Wednesday that would legalize abortion when a woman's life is in danger, when a fetus is unviable or when a pregnancy results from rape.

On Thursday, the lower chamber - which passed an earlier version of the bill over a year ago - was expected to approve the modifications made by the Senate.

That effort failed when one of the more conservative lawmakers in Bachelet's center-left coalition abstained. Other lawmakers were on vacation, leaving the government one vote short of the 67 needed for passage.

Chile is one of only a handful of countries where abortion is illegal without exception. The ban was put in place during the closing days of Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship. Bachelet pledged reform when she took office for a second time in 2014.

Although Chile is one of Latin America's more socially conservative countries and the Roman Catholic Church retains significant influence, opinion polls show about 70 percent of Chileans favor easing the abortion ban.

The bill will now go through a messy reconciliation process that could take weeks. Abortion rights advocates fear the final version may pass after a change in the composition of Chile's Constitutional Court scheduled for late August, which is expected to make it more conservative.

That change could be critical, as the conservative opposition has pledged to challenge the abortion bill in the court.

"History could have been changed. We just needed one vote to avoid what happened," center-left lawmaker Marco Antonio Nunez said in televised remarks. </s> The vote is a major victory for pro-choice supporters who have fought for decades against Chile's draconian ban on abortion. Since 1989, abortion has been illegal without exception.

The strict law was implemented by dictator Augusto Pinochet as one of his last acts in office. Activists have long criticized the ban.

"The illegality of abortion in Chile takes a devastating toll on women's health and lives," a Human Right's Watch report stated. "The consequences of illegal abortion constitute a leading cause of maternal mortality in this country."

The bill passed Wednesday decriminalizes abortion in cases of rape, if the mother's life is at risk or if the fetus presents a deadly birth defect.

"A bill has been approved that opens up options for women," said Claudia Pascual Grau, Chile's minister of women and gender equity. "We have generated safe health benefits, an accompanying program that is with all women, regardless of the decision they take." Activists have long criticized the ban Chile's lower Congressional house, the Chamber of Deputies, had 70 votes in favor, 45 votes against and 1 abstention. The Senate approved the bill by 22 votes in favor and 13 against. Despite the mandate, Chile's conservative Independent Democratic Union party did object. "Our constitution today protects the life of the unborn, so this bill violates the constitution," the organization said in a tweet. The bill will now go to the Constitutional Court for final review. The vote is an important triumph for President Michelle Bachelet, who campaigned on easing the abortion ban and has long championed women's rights. In 2011, Bachelet unapologetically supported abortion in the case of an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped by her mother's boyfriend -- an incident that rattled much of the conservative country. Bachelet was President of Chile from 2006-2010 and was again elected in 2013. Between her terms, she was tapped to become the inaugural Executive Director of UN Women, a United Nations agency created to promote gender equality around the world. "Today women recover a basic right that we should never miss: decide when we live moments of pain," President Bachelet said in a tweet after the vote. </s> • The Argentine Senate voted 38 to 31 against a proposed measure that would have legalized a woman’s right to seek an abortion into the 14th week of pregnancy.
• Argentine Senators announced the vote results after an impassioned debate that ran into the early hours of Thursday.
• Women in Argentina are currently only legally permitted to seek abortions in cases of rape or if the mother’s health is at risk.
• Uruguay and Cuba are the only Latin American countries that now have broadly legalized abortion.

Argentine senators rejected a bill to legalize abortion after an impassioned debate ran into the early hours of Thursday, pushing back against a groundswell of support from a surging abortion rights movement.

The Senate voted 38 to 31 against the proposed measure, which would have legalized a woman’s right to seek an abortion into the 14th week of pregnancy. The bill had narrowly passed in the lower house in July.

Families and clergy in baby-blue bandanas gathered outside the congressional palace as the result came in just before 3 a.m., waving Argentine flags in support of the Catholic Church’s anti-abortion stance in Pope Francis’ home country.

“What this vote showed is that Argentina is still a country that represents family values,” anti-abortion activist Victoria Osuna, 32, told Reuters.

Current Argentine law only permits abortions in cases of rape, or if the mother’s health is at risk.

Abortion rights supporters, clad in green bandanas that have become a symbol of the movement, danced to drum lines and swarmed the city’s streets to the end, despite a biting wind and cold rain.

Many had camped in front of Argentina’s National Congress since Wednesday night.

“I’m still optimistic. It didn’t pass today, but it will pass tomorrow, it will pass the next day,” said abortion rights supporter Natalia Carol, 23. “This is not over.”

Demonstrations outside Congress were largely peaceful, but small groups of protesters clashed with police following the results.

Some protesters through firebombs and set up flaming barricades, according to the Associated Press. Police officers responded to the non-peaceful demonstrations with tear gas.

Uruguay and Cuba are the only Latin American countries that now have broadly legalized abortion.

In Brazil, the Supreme Court is set to consider whether current law, which allows terminating pregnancies only in cases of rape, fetal deformation or when the mother’s life is in danger, is unconstitutional.

But passing a pro-abortion law will face hurdles in Brazil’s increasingly conservative Congress, with a growing Evangelical Christian caucus that is staunchly opposed.

Women’s rights advocates, however, hope that a more liberal judiciary in Brazil will at least decriminalize abortion to help avoid deaths from botched terminations in a country where hundreds of thousands of women resort to clandestine clinics each year.

Ahead of the Senate vote in Argentina, President Mauricio Macri called the debate “a win for democracy.” Macri said he was personally against abortion, but would sign the bill if it passed.

“Regardless of the result, today, democracy wins,” Macri said ahead of the vote.

Argentina’s abortion rights movement, backed by feminist groups galvanized in recent years to stop violence against women, argued that the bill would end unregulated abortions that government data show as the leading cause of maternal deaths.

There are at least 350,000 illegal abortions in Argentina every year, the Ministry of Health estimates, though international human rights groups say the number may be higher, with dozens of women dying each year as a result.

Activists have estimated that since 1983, at more than 3,000 women in the country have died of illegal abortions.

The move to legalize abortion in Argentina is a “public health and human rights imperative,” said New York-based Human Rights Watch.

“Just because the bill got shot down, it will not stop the movement,” said Paula Avila-Guillen, a director of Women’s Equality Center, an abortion rights advocacy group. “We will be there at the next legislative opportunity.”

Pope Francis, who is from Argentina, denounced abortion earlier this year, calling it the “white glove” equivalent of the Nazi-era eugenics program. He urged families to “accept the children that God gives to them.”

Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2010.

The movement Ni Una Menos, or Not One Less, was launched in the country in recent years to fight violence against women. </s> Chile's Congress on Wednesday eased a strict ban on abortion in effect since the final days of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship nearly three decades ago.

The measure, which passed with a 22-13 vote, allows abortion in cases of rape, if the mother's life is at risk or if the fetus presents a deadly birth defect.

It now awaits a ruling by the Constitutional Court at the request of the opposition.

Until now, the South American country has been part of a small group of socially conservative nations that barred abortion under all circumstances -- including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Haiti, Malta, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Senegal.

"We are satisfied. We have delivered alternatives, and safe health care options, to all women, regardless of the decisions they make," said Claudia Pascual, minister for women and gender equality.

In this deeply conservative country, the measure has been a priority for leftist President Michelle Bachelet, Chile's first woman president and a pediatrician by training.

Bachelet has worked since 2015 to overturn the strict ban on abortions put in place in 1989, in the final days of the Pinochet dictatorship.

Under current law, abortion is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Until the Pinochet-era change, abortion already was legal in Chile for five decades -- in case of danger to the mother's life or an unviable fetus.

Bachelet, after serving a first term as president, became the first chief of UN Women -- the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

She pledged to see the easing of the ban enacted before she leaves office in March 2018.

Conservative groups have historically had great influence in Chile, though they have lost ground in recent years. Chileans had to wait until 2004 to be able to divorce, and until just two years ago to enter into same-sex civil unions. </s> Argentine senators rejected a bill to legalize abortion after an impassioned debate ran into the early hours of Thursday, pushing back against a groundswell of support from a surging abortion rights movement.

The Senate voted 38-31 against the proposed measure, which would have legalized a woman's right to seek an abortion into the 14th week of pregnancy. The bill had narrowly passed in the lower house in July.

Families and clergy in baby-blue bandanas gathered outside the congressional palace as the result came in just before 3 a.m., waving Argentine flags in support of the Catholic Church's anti-abortion stance in Pope Francis's home country.

"What this vote showed is that Argentina is still a country that represents family values," anti-abortion activist Victoria Osuna, 32, told Reuters.

Current Argentine law only permits abortions in cases of rape, or if the mother's health is at risk.

Abortion rights supporters, clad in green bandanas that have become a symbol of the movement, danced to drum lines and swarmed the city's streets to the end, despite a biting wind and cold rain.

Many had camped in front of Argentina's National Congress since Wednesday night.

"I'm still optimistic. It didn't pass today, but it will pass tomorrow, it will pass the next day," said abortion rights supporter Natalia Carol, 23. "This is not over."

Uruguay and Cuba are the only Latin American countries that now have broadly legalized abortion.

In Brazil, the Supreme Court is set to consider whether current law — which allows terminating pregnancies only in cases of rape, fetal deformation or when the mother's life is in danger — is unconstitutional.

But passing a pro-abortion law will face hurdles in Brazil's increasingly conservative Congress, with a growing Evangelical Christian caucus that is staunchly opposed.

Women's rights advocates, however, hope that a more liberal judiciary in Brazil will at least decriminalize abortion to help avoid deaths from botched terminations in a country where hundreds of thousands of women resort to clandestine clinics each year.

Ahead of the Senate vote in Argentina, President Mauricio Macri called the debate "a win for democracy." Macri said he was personally against abortion, but would sign the bill if it passed.

Argentina's abortion rights movement, backed by feminist groups galvanized in recent years to stop violence against women, argued that the bill would end unregulated abortions that government data show as the leading cause of maternal deaths.

There are at least 350,000 illegal abortions in Argentina every year, the Ministry of Health estimates, though international human rights groups say the number may be higher.

The move to legalize abortion in Argentina is a "public health and human rights imperative," said New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"Just because the bill got shot down, it will not stop the movement," said Paula Avila-Guillen, a director of Women's Equality Center, an abortion rights advocacy group. "We will be there at the next legislative opportunity." </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s Senate on Thursday rejected a bill to legalize elective abortion, a defeat for a grassroots movement that came closer than ever to achieving the decriminalization of the procedure in the homeland of Pope Francis.

Lawmakers debated for more than 15 hours and voted 38-31 against the measure that would have legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The decision could echo across Latin America, where anti-abortion forces remains strong even if the Roman Catholic Church has lost influence and moral authority due to secularization, an out-of-touch clerical caste and an avalanche of sex abuse scandals.

For long hours, thousands of supporters wearing green handkerchiefs that represent the effort to legalize abortion and opponents of the measure wearing light blue braved the heavy rain and cold temperatures in Argentina’s winter to watch the debate on large screens set up outside Congress.

The demonstrations were largely peaceful, but after the vote, small groups of protesters clashed with police, throwing firebombs and setting up flaming barricades. Police officers responded with tear gas.

Pushed by a wave of demonstrations by women’s groups, the lower house had already passed the measure and conservative President Mauricio Macri had said that he would sign it, even though he is anti-abortion.

“Regardless of the result, today, democracy wins,” Macri said ahead of the vote.

In Argentina, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape and risks to a woman’s health. Thousands of women, most of them poor, are hospitalized each year for complications linked due to unsafe abortions.

Backers of the measure said legalizing abortion would save the life of many women. The Health Ministry estimated in 2016 that the country sees as many as half a million clandestine abortions each year, with dozens of women dying as a result. The Catholic Church and other groups opposed it, saying it violated Argentine law, which guarantees life from the moment of conception.

In recent years, Argentina has been at the forefront of social movements in the region. In 2010, it became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. More recently, the Ni Una Menos, or Not One Less, movement that was created in Argentina to fight violence against women has grown into a global phenomenon.

“There are positive points that have come out of this,” said Buenos Aires provincial Gov. Maria Eugenia Vidal, referring to the large and largely peaceful rival demonstrations.

“Even when there are differing ways of thinking, there’s a plaza in peace right now, with thousands of people defending their convictions,” said

The issue pitted the Catholic Church against feminist groups, physicians against physicians. While abortion rights activists waited for the decision under umbrellas, opponents gathered Wednesday night at a “Mass for Life” at the Metropolitan Cathedral, the church of Pope Francis during his tenure as the archbishop of Buenos Aires.

“It’s not about religious beliefs but about a humanitarian reason,” Cardinal Mario Poli, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, told churchgoers. “Caring for life is the first human right and the duty of the state.”

Pope Francis this year denounced abortion as the “white glove” equivalent of the Nazi-era eugenics program and urged families “to accept the children that God gives them.”

Activists estimate that 3,030 women in Argentina have died of illegal abortions since 1983.

“Let’s recognize that we’re facing a public health tragedy,” said Magdalena Odarda, a senator for Rio Negro province.

“We’re not deciding abortion yes or no. We’re deciding abortion in a hospital, or illegal abortion, with a clothes hanger, or anything else that puts a woman in a humiliating, degrading situation — a real torture,” she said.

Many women in Argentina use misoprostol to end first-trimester pregnancies. The drug is only sold under prescription, but for the poorest women the cost of the drug is out of reach.

For many of them, the methods used to induce an abortion include using an IV tube with a sharp wire clothes hanger or a knitting needle to try to break the amniotic sac inside the womb. Others drink herbs, insert dubious non-abortive pills in the vagina, or pump toxic mixtures, which can cause ulcers, hemorrhage and ultimately severe infections, and death.

For months, hundreds of doctors in Argentina had staged anti-abortion protests while feminists and other groups led even larger demonstrations in support of the measure, often wearing green that symbolizes the pro-abortion movement, or red cloaks and white bonnets like the characters from the novel-turned-TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

International human rights and women’s groups have been closely following the vote, and figures such as U.S. actress Susan Sarandon and “The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood supported the pro-abortion cause.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, said that Argentina had a “historic opportunity” to protect the rights of women. Amnesty International told Argentine legislators that “the world is watching.”

Demonstrations in support of the Argentine abortion measure were held Wednesday in Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay and Ecuador.

Efforts to ease or tighten abortion restrictions have repeatedly emerged across the region in recent years.

In neighbouring Chile, the constitutional Court last year upheld a measure that would end that country’s absolute ban on abortions, permitting abortions when a woman’s life is in danger, when a fetus is not viable and in cases of rape. Chile had been the last country in South America to ban abortion in all cases, though several nations in Central America still have absolute prohibitions.

Cuba, Guyana, Puerto Rico and Uruguay permit early-term elective abortions, as does Mexico City.

“It’s a shame that we were not able to reach a consensus because the problem will continue to exist exactly as it did before we began this debate,” said former President Cristina Fernandez, who is an opposition senator.

“We need to make an effort to resolve this,” she said. </s> Argentina’s Senate rejected a bill on Wednesday which would have legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

After a marathon debate, the bill was defeated by 38 senators who voted against it, while 31 voted in favor and two abstained. Despite its text being approved by Congress, experts on the matter believed the bill was going to be defeated in the Senate because many lawmakers had expressed their rejection of it.

Now, lawmakers must wait until next year to resubmit legislation.

Currently, abortion in Argentina is only legal in cases of rape or when the mother’s health is in danger.

Anti-abortion and pro-choice demonstrators rallied outside parliament as voting took place. When the result was made known, anti-abortion activists were jubilant. One of them told Reuters news agency that “this vote showed that Argentina is still a country that represents family values.”

Pro-choice campaigners were visibly angry and some started fires in protest, while many others comforted each other. What the vote in Argentina showed on Wednesday is that Latin America continues to be a region where the influence of the Roman Catholic Church exerts great pressure on legal issues, such as abortion. Cuba, small and progressive Uruguay and Mexico City are the only places in all of Latin America that have decriminalized abortion. If Argentina’s bill had been approved by the Senate, Argentina would had become the first major country in legalizing abortion on the federal level during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Chilean lawmakers have approved a bill that would legalize abortion in limited circumstances and end the socially conservative country's status as the last in South America with a blanket ban on the procedure.