Chile's president pushes to ease ban on all abortions

President Michelle Bachelet sent legislation to Congress on Saturday proposing to allow some abortions in Chile, a socially conservative South American nation that is among the few countries in the world that ban abortion in all circumstances.

The bill would decriminalize abortions in three types of cases: malformation of a fetus, a pregnancy posing a threat to the life of a woman carrying a fetus, and conception caused by rape.

Bachelet's proposal is likely to face an arduous debate in Congress, where several opposition legislators and even some members of her New Majority bloc have already announced they will fight the change.

The president announce