The decision represents a severe blow to the country’s feminist movements. And various groups of sexual diversity regretted what happened.
The Chamber of Deputies rejected this Tuesday the bill that decriminalizes abortion in Chile up to fourteen weeks of pregnancy, when analyzing the particulars of the text; therefore, it will be shelved for a year, in a severe blow to the country’s feminist movements.
With 65 votes against, 62 votes in favor and one abstention, the Lower House “rejected the bill that decriminalizes consensual abortion by women within the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy.” Although the same Chamber had approved “in general” the project on September 28, the decision to reject it shelves the norm and does not allow a new process in a year.
For its part, in the Senate, the bill of equal marriage in Chile will be debated next week after this Tuesday, in its last process before being voted by the full Senate, the Constitution Committee of the Upper House will not reach an agreement and delay the process.
Various groups of sexual diversity, who were waiting for the vote and the eventual approval of the project to take place, classified what happened as “regrettable”.
The motion, which is extremely urgent in the parliamentary discussion at the request of the country’s president, Sebastián Piñera, will be discussed next Monday in a Mixed Commission made up of members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
“What happened today in the Constitution Commission is unacceptable. The truth is that the senators established that there were certain points that generated doubts and that it seemed important to discuss, however, no point was discussed and it was immediately established that it would pass to a Mixed Commission ”, said the executive director of Fundación Iguales, Isabel Love.
“We fear that the same marriage project is being used for electoral purposes and it is important to emphasize that behind this project there are people, there are families, human rights and international commitments that the State of Chile must honor,” Amor added, referring to the campaign for the presidential elections that is taking place in the country at this time.
For her part, the Minister of Social Development, Karla Rubilar, who attended the session of the senatorial commission, pointed out that the will of the Executive was to dispatch the project urgently and that she awaits the end of the process next week.
Accompanied by the undersecretary of Human Rights, Lorena Recabarren, Rubilar pointed out that there was “all the disposition to clarify point by point doubts, to express what the organizations also believe, which is an imperative to be able to move forward.”
The project, which is expected to be scheduled for debate and voting in the Senate Chamber next Tuesday, is one of the biggest struggles of LGTBI groups in Chile, where homosexual people can only unite under the figure of the Civil Union Agreement ( AUC), which does not recognize filiative rights.
If approved, Chile would become the eighth country in Latin America to legalize it after Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and several states of Mexico. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
