Santiago, Chile, Mar 18, 2016 / 14:01 pm
Legislators in Chile's lower house of Congress on Thursday passed a bill decriminalizing abortion in limited circumstances. The bill now passes to the Senate, where analysts believe it may also pass.
The March 17 vote in the Chamber of Deputies approved the bill by 66-44. It seeks to legalize abortion in three cases: risk to the life of the mother, non-viability of the fetus, and rape. It also limits abortion to no more than 12 weeks, though it is extended to 14 weeks in mothers under the age of 14.
Conscientious objection for doctors on an individual basis was also passed, and health centers that allow abortions to be performed would be prohibited from advertising.
The legislators also approved the possibility of obliging the director of a hospital to make sure that an abortion be performed on any woman over 18 who asked for it following a rape, even if she did not report the rape to police.