Chile’s feminists push to decriminalize abortion

February 19, 2021
By Carole Concha Bell

Abortion campaigners in Chile have been heartened by the recent legalization of abortion in neighboring Argentina and are currently presenting a bill for the decriminalization of abortion. But with a pro-life government and Senate inherited from the Pinochet regime (1973-90) any amendments to the existing law will be hard won.

Chile has one of the world’s most draconian abortion laws in the world. Dictator General Augusto Pinochet’s last act before leaving office in 1989 was to completely outlaw abortion and make it a punishable crime. It was not until 2017 that President Michelle Bachelet’s administration was able to amend the law to allow abortion in extreme cases. But women’s reproductive rights have come under attack again by far-right President Sebastian Pinera’s cabinet. In 2019 Pinera introduced an amendment allowing entire (private) hospitals and medical professionals to object to the procedure on grounds of “conscience.”

Continued: https://towardfreedom.org/americas-2/chiles-feminists-push-to-decriminalize-abortion/


Argentina abortion rights activists renew push for legalisation

Argentina abortion rights activists renew push for legalisation
Abortion rights activists say momentum is greater as newly elected president throws his support behind legalisation.

by Natalie Alcoba
Feb 19, 2020

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Women across several generations rallied at the foot of political power in Argentina on Wednesday to repeat their demand for the government to legalise abortion.

The political ground has shifted significantly since 2018, when legalisation advocates narrowly lost a vote in the Senate that would have turned Argentina into the largest jurisdiction in South America region to legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/argentina-abortion-rights-activists-renew-push-legalisation-200219224405732.html


Women perform in favor of abortion before Mexican cathedral


Women perform in favor of abortion before Mexican cathedral

Published January 6, 2020
By the Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — A dozen women wearing green scarves lined up in front the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City’s central square on Sunday to call for legal and safe abortions throughout Mexico.

Abortion is highly restricted in the country of 120 million inhabitants, with the exception of the capital Mexico City and the southern state of Oaxaca, where the procedure is allowed up to 12 weeks of gestation.

To the sound of a metal spoon clanking against an iron frying pan, the women performed a variation of “A Rapist in Your Path” — the viral dance sequence concocted by the Chilean feminist collective La Tesis to protest violence against women. The moves are the same, but the words have changed; in this version, an “objector” stands in their path.

Continued: https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/01/06/women-perform-in-favor-of-abortion-before-mexican-cathedral/