New Supreme Court chief justice in Uruguay supports legalization of abortion

Montevideo, Uruguay, Feb 1, 2007 / 08:55 am

The new Chief Justice of the Uruguayan Supreme Court, Sara Bossio, who will assume the post on February 1, has said she supports the legalization of abortion in Uruguay.

Bossio argued that the country should end what she called the “double-speak” about abortion.  According to statements published by the newspaper “El Espectador,” Bossio is worried about poor women because “they have many kids and they have no way to obtain abortions, while women who are well-off can go to any clinic and get one.”

Although efforts to legalize abortion on demand have failed in Uruguay, pro-abortion lawmaker Margarita Percovich said a new bill on the issue would be coming before the Uruguayan Congress this month.

“Since we have so many reform measures to take up this year, we did not want to include it in the agenda of the Senate Health Care Committee, but we do plan to bring it forward in 2007,” Percovich said during an interview with the newspaper “La Republica.”

The feminist senator said that in order to prevent another defeat like the one in 2005, the bill would be presented “as a question of human rights,” and not as a health care issue.

President Tavare Vasquez, a leftist who has declared his full support for the defense of the unborn, said recently he would veto any law that would attempt to legalize abortion in Uruguay.