Chile takes ‘first step’ towards decriminalising abortion

Proposed bill to legalise abortion up to 14 weeks hailed by Chilean legislator as ‘tremendous’ step for women’s rights.

28 Sep 2021

Chile’s lower house of Congress has approved a plan to debate a bill that would expand women’s access to legal abortions, a “first step” that could see the country join a small but growing list of Latin American countries that are easing restrictions on the procedure.

Despite opposition from Chile’s centre-right government, the nation’s Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday passed the motion with 75 votes in favour versus 68 against, with two abstentions.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/28/chile-takes-first-step-towards-decriminalising-abortion

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/

Leftist Chilean lawmakers lodge abortion bill in Congress

Leftist Chilean lawmakers lodge abortion bill in Congress

By AFP
Aug 21, 2018

Leftist opposition MPs in Chile on Tuesday presented a bill in Congress seeking to legalize abortion in the conservative South American country, weeks after a similar bid in Argentina was narrowly defeated.

Abortion in Chile was decriminalized under the previous leftist government in a landmark vote in Congress last year but only in cases of rape or in medical emergencies.

Continued: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/leftist-chilean-lawmakers-lodge-abortion-bill-in-congress/article/530029