The Republic of Benin parliamentarians have voted to legalise abortion and authorised the process under very restricted conditions.

The law was passed after a heated debate in the parliament, with some legislators strongly opposed to legalising abortion before the amendment finally passed, Aljazeera reports.

According to the new law, women can terminate a pregnancy within the first three months if it is likely to “aggravate or cause material, educational, professional or moral distress, incompatible with the woman or the unborn child’s interest.”

In Benin, abortion was initially authorised if the pregnancy “threatened the life of the mother”, was “the result of a rape or incest” or when “the unborn child has a particularly severe affection.”

According to the report, several countries in Africa have total bans on abortion, including Congo-Brazzaville, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.

“In Benin, nearly 200 women die each year as the result of abortion complications,” said the Minister of Health, Benjamin Hounkpatin, in a statement on Thursday.

“This measure will be a relief for many women who face undesired pregnancies, and are forced to put their lives in danger with botched abortions,” the report revealed.

Complications from abortions were the cause of 20 percent of maternal deaths in the country, the minister said.

Hounkpatin noted that “it is because of this public health threat that the government has taken its responsibilities by submitting a text that lawmakers have passed.

“The new measure’s ‘unique goal’ was to ‘save human lives’ and that ‘voluntary termination of pregnancies will remain a last resort.”