BRASILIA, July 9 (Reuters) - A committee in Brazil's lower house of Congress voted down a bill on Wednesday that would have legalized abortion in the world's most populous Roman Catholic nation.

The Justice and Constitution Committee in the Chamber of Deputies voted 57-4 against a bill that had been stuck in Congress for 17 years, steeped in controversy. It is now likely to be shelved.

"This bill won't prosper in the Chamber," said Deputy Eduardo Cunha, committee leader.

Several ruling party legislators pushed the bill after Health Minister Jose Temporao last year all but endorsed legalizing abortion.

Church groups, which lobbied against the legislative proposal and witnessed the hearing, cheered and prayed in celebration after the vote.

Some deputies had placards hanging from their necks, showing pictures of aborted fetuses.

A few legislators supported the bill.

"You can't treat this issue on the basis of religion or belief. It's a public health issue," said Deputy Jose Genoino, who voted in favor of the proposal.

Temporao angered church groups by proposing a referendum on the legalization of abortion and backing increased use of contraceptives.

The government has begun distributing condoms in public high schools and in April launched its own factory to produce condoms made of rubber from Amazon trees.

Temporao has warned that the large number of women having illegal abortions was a serious public health issue because of often dangerous complications when they went awry.

Annually more than 200,000 women are hospitalized because of botched abortions, government statistics show. Based on those figures some experts estimate the number of abortions could be as high as around 1 million per year.

Many Brazilians believe it is mostly poor teenagers who abort. But a study co-sponsored by the University of Brasilia showed that most abortions were practiced by Catholic mothers, aged 20-29, with jobs, who used contraceptive devices and had steady sexual partners. (Reporting by Raymond Colitt, Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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