Uruguay Senate Approves First-Trimester Abortions

Source: New York Times

Uruguay Senate Approves First-Trimester Abortions
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: October 17, 2012

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Uruguay’s Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that allows women to have abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy for any reason, opening the way for one of the most sweeping abortion rights laws in Latin America.

The bill, approved by Uruguay’s 31-member Senate by a 17-to-14 vote, had been narrowly approved in September by the country’s lower house. While some prominent political leaders in Uruguay have opposed the measure, President José Mujica has supported it. Alberto Breccia, a top aide to Mr. Mujica, said Wednesday that the president had no plans to veto the bill, almost ensuring that it would become law by early November.

The abortion measure points to the political changes under way in Uruguay, which has a population of 3.3 million. In another debate closely followed in Latin America, Mr. Mujica, a former guerrilla, is also pushing for the legalization of marijuana.

Other nations, namely Communist-led Cuba and Guyana, the English-speaking South American country with fewer than 1 million people, have also legalized abortion. Elsewhere in the region, Colombia has eased a ban on abortion, allowing it in cases including rape, incest and when a woman’s life is in danger, while Mexico City legalized abortion in 2007.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/world/americas/uruguay-senate-approves-first-trimester-abortions.html?=&_r=0