Uruguay is set on Wednesday to become only the second country in mostly Catholic South America to legalise abortion, in a shift one top official says makes it a regional health care leader.
With more cows than people, this sleepy, well-educated nation of just three million sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, might seem an unlikely trailblazer on the public health front.
But the Senate in the South American nation is expected to vote on Wednesday to allow women the right, under certain conditions, to end an unwanted pregnancy, and make access to the right part of its health care system.
The developments come under the government of a president who is a doctor by training, Jose Mujica, and a deputy health minister, Leonel Briozzo, who is an obstetrician.
A non-surgical technique employed unofficially in Uruguay makes use of the drug misoprostol, a common ulcer medication, to facilitate expulsion of the foetus.
At the moment the drug is only sold on the black market for abortion use, but if Wednesday’s vote goes as expected it will soon be available for legal procedures in public health facilities.