‘Gigantic step backwards’: far-right gains in Chile threaten abortion rights

Concerns mount as ultraconservative Republican party’s ‘right to life’ proposal could be enshrined in constitution

John Bartlett
Mon 21 Aug 2023

The hard-won right to an abortion in Chile is at risk of being overturned, activists have warned, as the country’s far right moves to enshrine protection for “the life of the unborn child and maternity” in a new constitution.

Concerns have grown over the ultraconservative Republican party’s plans to pare back reproductive rights in Chile as it now holds significant sway in the fate of the country’s constitutional saga.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/aug/21/chile-far-right-new-consitution-abortion

Chile’s abortion rights movement faces uphill battle

Advocates say fight continues despite rejection of new constitution last year that would have enshrined reproductive rights.

By Charis McGowan
10 Mar 2023

Santiago, Chile – Siomara Molina stands on the steps of the Chilean National Library on a busy street in the heart of Chile’s capital.

Waving fists in the air and wearing green scarves, symbolic of the Latin American movement for abortion rights, Molina and the dozens of women around her chant: “Abortion yes, abortion no, that’s my decision”.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/10/chiles-abortion-rights-movement-faces-uphill-battle

Women’s rights advocates across Americas region say their struggle goes on after top US court overturns Roe v Wade.

By Natalie Alcoba
28 Jun 2022

Feminists in Latin America have long understood their struggle for abortion rights to know no borders. So when the United States Supreme Court decision that stripped women of their right to an abortion in the country became official last week, the blow was personal across North and South America.

“We can’t confide in the state – we only have each other,” said Crystal P Lira, a member of the Tijuana, Mexico-based feminist group Bloodys Collective. “And there are many of us.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/28/latin-american-activists-undeterred-despite-us-abortion-rollback

Abortion ‘doulas’ in Chile risk prison, saying women need their help

Abortion 'doulas' in Chile risk prison, saying women need their help
“We are doing this because the law is insufficient."

May 28, 2020
By Liam Miller

SANTIAGO, Chile — The woman anxiously removes the SIM card from the cheap cellphone and cuts the chip into pieces before sweeping the fragments into the trash. When her nerves pass, she allows herself a small sigh of relief.

Despite using a "burner" phone like those associated with drug deals in TV crime series, this woman is using it for a different purpose. A college-educated professional, she's one of several women in a group of abortion "doulas," part of a clandestine network willing to break the law and face prison to help women obtain abortions, as long as it's medically safe to do so.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/abortion-doulas-chile-risk-prison-saying-women-need-their-help-n1154506