June 01, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of people in Uruguay support the decriminalization of abortion, according to a poll by Factum published in El Espectador. 61 per cent of respondents are in favour of legislation that would allow women to resort to an abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of people in Uruguay support the decriminalization of abortion, according to a poll by Factum published in El Espectador. 61 per cent of respondents are in favour of legislation that would allow women to resort to an abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Under current Uruguayan legislation, women can only terminate a pregnancy in cases of rape, risk to the mother or fetal defects. Several bills to legalize abortion have been previously defeated by the country's legislators.

Tabaré Vázquez—nominee for the leftist Progressive Encounter (EP)—won the October 2004 election with 50.45 per cent of the vote, becoming the first Uruguayan president to represent a political organization other than the Red Party (PC) and the National Party-Whites (PN-B).

In January, EP senator Margarita Percovich announced she would re-submit a proposal to Congress to legalize abortion. Percovich said the new bill would address pregnancy termination as a matter of "human rights" and not as a health care topic.

Vázquez—a doctor—has expressed he would veto any legislation that would make abortion legal in the South American country.

Polling Data

The Senate is currently discussing a law which would allow women to resort to an abortion on the first 12 weeks of gestation, and also—as stated in existing legislation—in cases of rape, risk to the mother or fetal defects. Do you support or oppose this law?

Support	61%
Oppose	27%
Not sure	12%

Source: Factum / El Espectador
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 900 Uruguayan adults, conducted in May 2007. Margin of error is 3.3 per cent.