By Natalia Siniawski and Sarah Morland
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Chile’s Congress is set to begin debating a bill that could make abortion legal on request nationwide, a debate which could have ripple effects across Latin America as a rift grows between nations making reproductive choices more accessible and those hardening legislation against abortion.
Major Latin American countries like Mexico and Argentina provide broad access to abortion, while a Supreme Court case in Brazil seeking to expand access has been stalled for eight years. Although some countries have recently expanded abortion rights amid a wave of progressive politics, most still ban abortion in all or nearly all cases.
FIRST TO LEGISLATE
Cuba became Latin America’s first country to decriminalize abortion in 1965, decades ahead of its neighbors. Public hospitals provide the procedure free up to 12 weeks, with later abortions allowed in certain cases.
These cases – rape or incest, fetal non-viability or risk to the woman’s health or life – are commonly known as the “tres causales” (three reasons) and serve as a key reference across the region.
Guyana legalized abortion in 1995, allowing it on request up to 8 weeks, with some extensions. Uruguay legalized abortion on request in 2012 up to 12 weeks, while Chile in 2017 eased a total ban to the tres causales restriction up to 12 weeks.
In 2020 Argentina legalized abortion up to 14 weeks. Since President Javier Milei took office, some groups have raised concerns about cuts to funding and limited access to related healthcare.
In 2022, Colombia — which had earlier legalized abortion under the tres causales — decriminalized abortion up to 24 weeks, placing it among the world’s more permissive countries.
Mexico ruled criminal penalties for abortion unconstitutional in 2021 and reaffirmed this with a broader ruling in 2023, but as of today 10 of 32 administrative entities have yet to update their local laws.
LIMITED ACCESS
Much of Latin America currently allows abortion in limited cases – many use the “tres causales”, and others allow for a broader set of reasons including mental health, economic constraints and social issues. Few countries allow abortion beyond the first three months.
Brazil, the region’s most populous nation with some 211 million inhabitants, currently allows abortion only with the “tres causales”, specifically if the fetus is missing parts of its brain or skull. A Supreme Court case seeking to decriminalize abortion was filed in 2017 but remains on pause.
Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela have limited access broadly aligned with the “tres causales”, though many restrict it to situations where the woman’s life is at risk, while pregnant women living in Central America and the Caribbean are broadly subject to stricter laws.
Even in countries where abortion is legally permitted under certain conditions, barriers such as limited medical infrastructure, provider reluctance, and documentation requirements can make access difficult. In many cases, pregnancies must meet strict timelines or legal proof standards.
TOTAL BANS
Much of Central America and the Caribbean ban abortion in all or most cases. Countries with complete bans include Nicaragua, which ended exceptions even for life-threatening pregnancies in 2006; Honduras, where a 2021 constitutional amendment makes reversal unlikely; and El Salvador, which enforces some of the region’s strictest penalties.
El Salvador’s constitution recognizes life from conception, and women have received decades-long prison sentences for abortion-related charges, even when advocates argue the cases were miscarriages or even newborn deaths. As of now, no women are imprisoned under these charges, but President Nayib Bukele has said he will not change the law.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the Caribbean island on Hispaniola, ban abortion in all circumstances. Dominican activists are seeking legalization under the “tres causales” but efforts have stalled.
In Haiti, a penal code that would have decriminalized abortion up to 12 weeks was delayed after the president’s assassination in 2021.
A worsening armed conflict has led to widespread sexual violence, a failing health system and mass insecurity, forcing many pregnant women to seek care across the Dominican border. Activists say pregnant Haitians have been targeted in Dominican deportations. In 2013, the Dominican Republic changed its law to revoke its nationality from children born to Haitian parents.
(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Diane Craft)
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