Bolivia's Socialist Party leader Evo Morales said this week the government should approve a new law on sexual and reproductive rights, which would make abortion legal in the country.
The Bolivian Congress voted to review the new bill, which was already vetoed once by former president Carlos Mesa, but it will not be debated or put to a vote until the next legislative session in order to keep the bill from becoming a campaign issue in the upcoming elections.
The chairman of the Committee on Human Rights, Juan Gabriel Bautista, denounced the tactic by some members of Congress to move the bill through other committees in order to ensure passage. According to local reports, Bautista said his committee was to provide information on the bill, but an unusual agreement between some members of Congress led to the bill being moved through the Committee on Social Policies instead, which recommended it be approved. Bautista said the committee was apparently under pressure from the UN Population Fund to vote in favor of the bill.
The Catholic Church, evangelical groups, and pro-life and pro-family associations have all expressed their rejection of the proposed law.
CWN - Catholic World News (8. august 2005)