Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
BBC News
When Adriana Ávila Barraza was 12 weeks pregnant, she received some upsetting news.
Her foetus’s head was malformed, and the prognosis was not good, her doctor told her. The diagnosis was confirmed by an x-ray when she was 16 weeks pregnant – part of the skull was missing, so the brain could not develop. The foetus would not survive. . . [Full text]
Crux
SANTIAGO, Chile – A Chilean court has ruled that private healthcare facilities may conscientiously object to abortions, declaring unconstitutional a law that had gone into effect in October.
By a vote of 8-2, the nation’s Constitutional Court struck down a portion of the Regulation on Conscientious Objection of the Law on Abortion. The court accepted a Dec. 6 appeal filed by senators of the Chile Vamos coalition which sought to annul part of the Department of Health regulation. . .[Full text]
Crux
ROME – After a two-year debate in Congress, Chile’s constitutional court has voted to approve a bill lifting the country’s total ban on abortion. The measure, that had the full support of President Michelle Bachelet, was criticized by the bishops, who said it “offends the conscience and the common good of the citizens.”
The legislation also gives no exemption to religious institutions, and conscience rights are offered only limited protection. . . [Full text]