The Chilean government announced tonight on Wednesday, May 28, at night, after having submitted to Parliament a bill destined to make a legal abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, one of the main promises of the president of the left Gabriel Bóric when he came to power in 2022.
“Thirty -six years after the prohibition of therapeutic abortion in our country, through a dictatorial decree, we will now open the debate in Parliament,” said women’s minister Antonia Orellana, during a press conference.
He referred to one of the latest measures taken by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) before putting power to a democratic government.
Authorized abortion in 2017 in case of danger
For more than 50 years, until 1989, abortion was authorized in Chile in case of danger of death for the mother or a non -viable fetus.
But just before leaving power, Augusto Pinochet had decreed a prohibition in all circumstances, and then delayed under the pressure of the Catholic Church and conservative groups.
Since 2017, abortion has been authorized in the South American country, but only in case of danger to the life of the mother, the girl or rape.
The bill of the Boric Government Law runs the risk of experiencing a difficult course in Parliament, where the president has the majority in either chambers and, while the opposition rejects the expansion of the right to abortion.
Antonia Orellana admitted that it would be “naive” to believe that the project will be discussed until its end under the boric government, which had to end in March 2026.
34% of Chileans think that abortion should be an option in all circumstances
Disinating abortion in all its forms is a historical demand for feminist groups in Chile.
According to the Center for Public Studies, 34% of the Chilean population considers that abortion should be an option for women in all circumstances, while 50% estimate that it should only be authorized in specific cases.
In 2022, a proposal for a new Constitution to replace the current one, inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and that provided in particular the authorization of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVG), had been rejected at the polls. He had written by a constituent assembly mainly to the left and supported by Gabriel Boric.
Source: BFM TV
