Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has announced plans to end a total ban on abortions in her country.

Abortion in Chile is currently a crime punishable by up to five years in jailm according to BBC

President Bachelet just tabled a bill in Congress intended to legalize abortion in the cases of rape or whenever there is a clear threat to either the mother's or the unborn baby's life.

The president went on national television to announce her plans, explaining every year the absolute ban of abortion puts the lives of thousands of Chilean women at risk.

"Facts have shown that the absolute criminalization of abortion has not stopped the practice. ... [This] is a difficult situation, and we must face it as a mature country," Bachelet said.

The change to the law will likely be met with a fight, as Chile is predominately a Catholic country. The draft law will face opposition from the church, conservatives in Congress and even inside Bachelet's own socialist party.

President Bachelet's proposal would see abortions carried out up to the 12th week of pregnancy if the mother's life is at risk or in a case of rape or when the fetus clearly would not survive birth. Termination would be legal until the 18th week for girls up to the age of 14.

The absolute prohibition on abortion was introduced in 1989 by the Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

"Chile had an important legal and public health tradition, interrupted arbitrarily in the last days of the dictatorship," Bachelet said,,

Other Latin American countries that currently have a total ban on abortion are El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti and Suriname.

According to polls, most Chileans support the legalization of abortion on the terms Bachelet has proposed.