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...