Lima, Peru, Oct 22, 2009 / 20:16 pm
Peru’s Minister of Justice, Aurelio Pastor, said the legalization of abortion for reasons of rape and fetal deformation cannot be approved by the Peruvian Congress because there are not enough votes to support the change.
Pastor explained that although a debate is taking place based on religious, legal and medical arguments, “the truth is that there is no way it will be approved” due to the lack of votes “in Congress to pass it,” he said.
He then stressed that there has not been a change to Peru's laws on abortion despite a vote to move the proposal through a government committee. To become law, the bill would still have to go before the full body.