Uruguayan President Vazquez Offers To Resign After Backlash Over Veto Of Bill To Decriminalize Abortion

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 09 Dec 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez has offered to resign as head of the country's Socialist Party after he went against party members by vetoing a bill that would have decriminalized abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a Socialist Party senator said last week, Reuters reports. Vazquez's offer to step down comes days after Uruguay's Socialist Party-controlled Senate denounced the president's veto and pledged to introduce another bill in next year's session. The senator, Monica Xavier, said that Vazquez's offer to resign as party leader creates a "painful decision, both for the president and for us," adding that party members would "do everything possible to keep him from leaving."

Under the current law, enacted in 1938, women who undergo abortions can face up to nine months in prison, and those who administer the procedure can face up to two years. Abortion in Uruguay is permitted only in cases of rape or if the life of the woman is in danger, according to Reuters. Although the proposed bill would have loosened restrictions on access to abortion, the procedure would have remained illegal after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, Reuters reports (Hornos, Reuters, 12/4).

Vazquez vetoed the bill in November after the Roman Catholic Church expressed strong opposition to the measure. Vazquez said he vetoed the bill because it included elements "with which I disagree, philosophically and biologically" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 11/24). Although Uruguay's Congress approved the bill last month, support in the legislature was insufficient to override the veto, Reuters reports. Vazquez repeatedly has vowed to veto bills that would remove restrictions on access to abortion, saying he favors providing women with unwanted pregnancies with other services over expanded abortion rights (Reuters, 12/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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