This week, the Chilean right imposed the majority it has in the body that is drafting a new Constitution for the country and approved several controversial amendments that represent, for the opposition, “setbacks” in different matters, such as the sexual and reproductive rights of women. women.
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In the first week of voting in the Constitutional Council, of 51 members, Right-wing groups aligned themselves and gave their approval to norms such as the law that “protects the life of the unborn,” substantially modifying the draft prepared by a commission of 24 experts and which serves as a basis for the Council’s work.
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Specifically, the change occurs in a relative pronoun of the phrase that established that the law protects “the life of the unborn”, imitating the formula of the current Constitution, to go on to indicate that the law protects “the life of who is about to be born.”
Although it may seem minor, opposition councilors and constitutional experts assure that it changes the interpretation of the text and could bury the law that allows abortion on three grounds: in the event that the pregnancy poses a danger to the woman’s life, fetal inviability lethal nature and pregnancy due to rape.
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“The (pronoun) who unequivocally always refers to a person, on the other hand, the (pronoun) that normally refers to an object and can sometimes be a person”constitutional lawyer Javier Couso told Efe, who assured that the effect of this adjustment is that “it puts at risk the causes of rape and non-viability of the fetus.”
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This is Chile’s second attempt in three years to draft a new Magna Carta to replace the Constitution imposed in 1980 during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). The first effort, where the left had a majority, ended in September 2022 with the rejection of 61 percent of the voters. But the most recent polls predict a new triumph of the rejection option: according to a survey by the Cadem firm, released last week, 57 percent of those surveyed say they will vote against the proposal.
Foreigners who enter the national territory clandestinely or through unauthorized passages will be expelled in the shortest possible time.
This week, the 22 councilors of the Republican Party and the majority of the 11 of the right-wing coalition also approved “freedom of choice” on issues such as health, education and pensions. Something that, according to counselor Luis Silva, seeks to “limit the State to prevent it from becoming the greatest threat to the person.”.
On the contrary, from the left they consider that the approved law attacks the social rule of law established in the bases of this constitutional process and that it was one of the main demands of the social protests of 2019.
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Other controversial indications that were approved in the plenary session is that “foreigners who enter the national territory clandestinely or through unauthorized passages will be expelled in the shortest possible time.” But the text alerted migrant organizations because, they say, it does not agree with the principle of non-refoulement – binding according to international treaties signed by Chile – or with the principles of family reunification, relevant in the Chilean legal system.
The other questioned vote that was approved this week is the rule that allows terminally ill patients to serve their sentences at home. For the opposition, it is a “pardon” for all those convicted of crimes against humanity perpetrated during the Pinochet dictatorship, practically all of them already elderly and serving their sentence in the Punta Peuco prison, a facility designated exclusively for for them, with better conditions than those of other prisons.
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The rule that would benefit the wealthiest was also approved, according to the opposition. This is an exemption from paying taxes on the “first home”, that is, where the owner of the property lives, regardless of size, sector or value. In fact, this rule would have no effect on smaller homes located in poor neighborhoods because they are already exempt from payment. The new norms approved in the Constitutional Council must be reviewed by two other bodies before the constitutional project is ready on November 7 and can be voted on in a new plebiscite, on December 17.
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