First modification:
The text, which proposes the decriminalization of abortion up to 14 weeks, was archived, although it may be presented again. The initiative did not have the backing of the center-right government of President Sebastian Piñera.
The Lower House of Chile rejected this Tuesday, November 30, the bill that sought to expand women’s legal access to abortion up to 14 weeks of gestation.
“The House rejected a motion that modifies the Penal Code to decriminalize consensual abortion by women within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The bill is archived,” the Lower House posted on Twitter after the vote.
The deputies of the Chamber had decided at the end of September by means of another vote to study and debate the bill. However, after an intense debate, with 65 votes against, 62 in favor and one abstention, it was decided not to proceed with the processing of the legislation, one of the main objectives of the feminist movement.
In 2017, during the socialist government of Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean Congress approved the legalization of abortion, but only in three specific scenarios: when the mother’s life is in danger, when the pregnancy is the result of rape or when the fetus presents complications.
The decriminalization of abortion will now be shelved, at least for a year, at which time the project can be presented again and it will have to go through the Chambers again. Despite this, the possibility of entering a similar project in the short term should not be ruled out.
This resolution aroused strong discontent in civil and feminist groups and in the bloc’s deputies who were in favor of a free and safe abortion.
Opposing versions after the definition in Deputies
After the vote on Tuesday, Deputy Maya Fernández, promoter of the initiative, rejected the decision of the Chamber, as did several groups and national movements in favor of women’s rights.
“Many still prefer clandestine abortions where women are subjected to inhumane conditions,” Fernández wrote on Twitter.
For her part, the left-wing deputy Maite Orsini –another of the referents who promoted the regulation-, ruled that they will lose “as many times as necessary to win a free, legal and free abortion”; He also confirmed that they will present a new project, without a confirmed date but that they will do it “until the end.”
In the @Camara_cl In particular, the project to decriminalize abortion up to 14 weeks is rejected. The discourses on conservatism, morality and religion left out women and the reality that we live in Chile.
We will keep pushing, until it becomes law.
– Catalina Pérez Deputy (@CatalinaPerezS) November 30, 2021
The other side were the conservative representatives of the anti-abortion position, many of them defending their opinion with religious arguments over medical explanations.
One of those who took testimony after the victory was Diego Schalper, from Renovación Nacional, alleged that “the woman has the right to her body, but the unborn child is not part of it.”
“Not because crimes are commented abroad, I want them to be committed in Chile,” he added, referring to the approval that took place in Argentina at the beginning of 2021 and that was the starting point for the discussion to be installed again in the Chilean parliament.
Some studies indicate that since the total prohibition that took place in 1989, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, 70 thousand clandestine abortions have been carried out per year.
WITH EFE
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