Paragraph two of article 16 on sexual and reproductive rights of the new Magna Carta that is debated in the Constitutional Convention of Chile proposes to transform into law the voluntary interruption of pregnancy. The right – entered through the mechanism of “popular initiative” – was incorporated into the text of the new constitution with more than two thirds of the votes of the constituents.
The draft of the new Constitution It should be ready in July to then be put to a citizenship plebiscite. The incorporation of the right to abortion was approved by 108 conventions (they needed 103), it had 39 rejections and six abstentions. “The State guarantees the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights without discrimination, with a focus on gender, inclusion and cultural belonging,” says the paragraph.
Current Chilean legislation allows abortion under three grounds: fetal inviability, rape or risk to the life of the mother. Outside of these cases, the penalty is up to five years in prison.. In the context of advancing the right to interrupt pregnancy on the continent, with the IVE Law in Argentina, a feminist collective presented the proposal, with 15,000 supporting signatures, to guarantee the decriminalization of pregnancy through the “popular initiative of standard”which reached 4,000 thousand proposals for the Constituent Assembly.
The paragraph voted this Tuesday also ensures access to information, education, health, and the services and benefits required for the voluntary interruption of pregnancy with the aim of ensuring “all women and people with the capacity to gestate, the conditions for a pregnancy, a voluntary termination of pregnancy, voluntary and protected childbirth and maternity”.
In addition, the text indicates that “its exercise is guaranteed free of violence and interference by third parties, whether individuals or institutions.”
Paragraph one of the same article was also approved, which states that “everyone is entitled to sexual and reproductive rights. These include, among others, the right to decide freely, autonomously and informed regarding one’s own body, regarding the exercise of sexuality, reproduction, pleasure and contraception”. This section was approved by 113 votes in favor, 35 once morest and five abstentions.
If approved, it will put an end to the current Constitution, written in 1980, during the civic-military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-90).