President Tabare Vazquez on Thursday vetoed a bill decriminalizing abortion passed earlier this week by Congress, said Tourist Minister Hector Lescano.

The Senate and House of Deputies lack the three-fifths required vote to override the veto, he added.

The bill, hailed by some lawmakers as a milestone, would allow women to end their pregnancy in the first 12 weeks of gestation because of economic, family or age reasons.

In addition, abortion would be legal for health, deformation or risk to the mother's life.

The Roman Catholic church voiced "deep discomfort" with the bill and said anyone who participated directly in stopping a pregnancy would be excommunicated.

Vazquez, also a doctor by profession, had announced that he would veto "The Law of Sexual and Reproductive Health."

A recent poll showed 57 percent of Uruguayans support access to abortion while 42 percent oppose it.