Nicaragua Likely to Outlaw Abortion
Nicaragua's Legislature today is expected to approve a law that outlaws all forms of abortion, including those procedures intended to save the life of a mother.

The measure has been supported by most major political parties, heading into the Nov. 5 presidential election, as they seek to win over voters in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church helped draft the bill and have mobilized followers to support it.

Medical associations in Nicaragua and international human-rights groups have strongly criticized the proposal.

Since the late 1980s, Latin America's El Salvador and Chile have adopted similar measures. At least 34 countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, prohibit all abortions, without exception, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group in New York.

The law would establish prison sentences of six to 30 years for women who abort pregnancies and the doctors who perform the procedure.

Leaders of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front and the ruling right-wing Liberal Alliance said their representatives would vote for the proposal. The two groups control all but one of the seats in the 92-member Legislature.

"The current law allows a small door in which abortions can be performed, and we are trying to close that door," said Dr. Rafael Cabrera, an obstetrician and leader of the Yes to Life Movement.

About 32,000 illegal abortions are performed in Nicaragua each year, many under unsafe conditions, according to Ipas, a U.S.-based reproductive-rights group. Only 24 abortions authorized by law have been performed in Nicaragua in the past three years.