BRASILIA (AFP) - Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday declared
abortion legal in cases of foetuses without brains, a decision that
ends a debate started eight years ago amid protests from religious
groups.
By a vote of 8-to-2, the Supreme Court said forcing women to
maintain their pregnancies when their foetuses have been diagnosed
with anencephaly creates a risk to their physical and psychological
health.
Under current Brazilian law, abortion is legal only in cases of
rape or when a mother's life is threatened by a pregnancy.
'Giving birth means giving life, not death,' said Judge Ayres
Britto.