Mexican capital legalizes abortion, defies church
Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:00pm ET162
By Catherine Bremer and Adriana Barrera
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican capital legalized abortion on Tuesday, defying the church but delighting feminists in the world's second-largest Roman Catholic country.
Mexico City lawmakers voted 46 to 19 to pass a leftist-sponsored bill allowing women to abort in the first three months of pregnancy.
The abortion vote split Mexico and prompted a letter last week from Pope Benedict urging Mexican bishops to oppose it.
Riot police kept rival groups of rowdy demonstrators apart outside the city's assembly building. Weeping anti-abortion protesters played tape recordings of babies crying and carried tiny white coffins.
Until Tuesday, only Cuba, Guyana and U.S. commonwealth Puerto Rico allowed abortion on demand in Latin America.
Church leaders threatened to excommunicate leftist deputies, mostly from the Party of the Democratic Revolution, who voted in favor of lifting the abortion ban, which will remain in force in the rest of the country. Continued...
? Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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