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MEXICO CITY - The Mexican capital legalised abortion yesterday, defying the church but delighting feminists in the world's second-largest Roman Catholic country.
Mexico City politicians voted 46 to 19 to pass a bill allowing women to have an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. The vote split Mexico and prompted a letter last week from Pope Benedict urging Mexican bishops to oppose it. Riot police kept groups apart outside the assembly. Only Cuba, Guyana and Puerto Rico have allowed abortion on demand in Latin America.
Church leaders threatened to excommunicate leftist deputies, mostly from the Party of the Democratic Revolution, who voted in favour of lifting the abortion ban, which will remain in the rest of the country.
- REUTERS
