If approved, Chile will become one of few countries in the world, and the first in majority Catholic Latin America, to guarantee the right to "voluntary termination of pregnancy" in its founding law
Demonstrators hold a green flag during a march celebrating after the lower house took a step toward decriminalizing abortion, on the Global Day of Action for Legal and Safe Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, on September 28, 2021. In a historic initiative due to be voted on in the Senate, the lower house of Chile approved a bill to decriminalize abortion up to 14 weeks of gestation. Image: Pablo VERA / AFP
Santiago, Chile: As the United States loses a five-decade-old right to abortion, Chile—long one of Latin America's most conservative countries—is gearing up to enshrine the same right in its constitution.
It is a guarantee hard fought for by supporters of abortion rights, but a final hurdle remains: Chile's first post-dictatorship constitution will be put to a referendum on September 4.
If approved, Chile will become one of few countries in the world, and the first in majority Catholic Latin America, to guarantee the right to "voluntary termination of pregnancy" in its founding law.
Until 2017, Chile had an outright ban on the procedure, and today allows it only in cases of rape, or if there is a threat to the life of the woman or fetus.