Mentally impaired Argentine granted abortion after rape.

THE TOP COURT OF ARGENTINA'S most populous province ruled July 31 that a mentally impaired woman who had been raped could have an abortion. The ruling overturned two lower courts' decisions in a case that sparked rallies by both sides in the abortion debate. Argentine health minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia and Buenos Aires province governor Felipe Sola agreed with the court that the abortion was permissible under Argentina's law, which allows abortion for women whose lives are endangered by pregnancy and for mentally impaired women who have been raped. Argentine Health Ministry data indicate as many as 700,000 abortions take place illegally in the country each year.