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According to the legislation in force since 1938 in Uruguay (law No. 9763), abortion is always considered a crime. A Judge may decide to mitigate or exempt the punishment under certain circumstances, as long as the abortion has been performed by a physician and during the first trimester of gestation, except when the woman’s life is at risk. The mitigating or exempting circumstances are: economic hardship, risk for the woman’s life, sexual rape and family honor.
Throughout the years in which this law has been in force, it has proven to be ineffective, because the conditions to provide access to abortion services within the established circumstances were never implemented. Among other reasons, the fact that abortion is always defined as a crime and the admission of mitigating and exempting circumstances is ambiguous, make this a law that is impossible to implement (Dufau, G. 1989). This punitive law has only created and encouraged the clandestine practice, carried out under unsafe conditions, affecting the health and lives of women. |
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