BUENOS AIRES: Argentina's Supreme Court says the public health system must provide an abortion to a woman who was rescued from a prostitution ring.

The ruling comes after days of protests and finger-pointing in Buenos Aires, where the justice ministry is protecting the 32-year-old woman in a refuge for freed sex slaves. Though the woman had been kidnapped and forced into prostitution, a judge had blocked the abortion, saying she had no proof the woman was raped. Anti-abortion activists allegedly threatened the woman's life.

Argentina allows legal abortions in rape cases or to protect a woman's health. But politicians, doctors and judges often continue to block them.

Women's health advocate Estela Diaz praised the ruling Friday, saying 80,000 Argentines a year end up hospitalized with complications after illegal abortions.