(en) Chile, periodico-solidaridad - Diagnosis and challenges
for the current political moment: No more clandestine abortions! (ca)
[machine translation]
The decriminalization of abortion in our country has a long history, has been driven by
various feminist, political and social organizations to assert a fundamental right for
women. This struggle has been historically overshadowed by the Catholic Church and
fundamentalist religious groups, social sectors also have great influence on the state,
and available feature powerful media; where they promote their values and ethics address
this "life" unborn, severing the right to decide for every woman. ---- The criminalization
of therapeutic abortion was driven by the fascist right during the dictatorship of
Pinochet in 1989. Chile thus became one of the few countries that criminalized abortion
under all circumstances, leaving women sentenced to practice clandestinely and in
precarious conditions .
Recently, the Bachelet government sent a bill to decriminalize abortion under three
grounds: lifetime risk of maternal, fetal infeasibility and rape, no clutch, the
initiative does not show a definite advance in the empowerment of women, since even
restricts our freedom to decide on our bodies and lives. Furthermore, the practices of
abortion in Chile mainly due to reasons beyond the 'therapeutic', so that if the proposal
is approved, the vast majority of abortions continue to occur in the same precarious and
clandestine conditions.
?While the state should legalize abortion to end the criminalization of women, should also
guarantee, instaurándolo as a right which must be made in decent conditions, safely, with
a universal free access. The abortion is a problem that affects mostly women belonging to
the poorest sectors of society, it is they who must go to abortions performed
clandestinely risking their lives, while there is another sector that can afford and do it
for privately, without taking bigger risks. The current status of abortion in our country
is a clear expression of patriarchal violence that all women suffer, seeing it as a
contradiction between our sovereignty and reproductive roles imposed on us, but also has a
strong connotation of class, affect differently depending on the material possibilities of
every woman. Furthermore, it is necessary to understand the problem broadly about our
sexual and reproductive rights: education, full and unrestricted enjoyment of our
sexuality, contraception and diverse universally guaranteed and free, safe and free
abortion rights are can not be analyzed separately and must be fully secured.
The abortion debate is more relevant than ever, and yet h?to been co-opted by the
traditional political parties whose members, mostly men, and with the help of the media,
depleting the discussion on the three grounds before you mecionadas. We can not allow
these sectors, whose progressive mask often deceives, let us out of the discussion is
currently in place thanks to the historic struggle that the feminist movement, in its
breadth and diversity, has for years. The current political situation does not allow dyes
media. Ceder today and not speak out with clarity and power that the matter requires, is
to deny our history, deny the struggle of hundreds of companions who opened step for our
right to decide today is put into the debate and recognized as such. The mobilization next
March 6, commemorating Women's Day, opened a unique opportunity and an inescapable duty,
that as feminists, we start the year with a political milestone that truly position us as
protagonists in the fight for our rights.
by Mónica Sánchez Bravo, activist Violeta Action
http://www.periodico-solidaridad.cl/2015/03/23/diagnostico-y-desafios-para-el-actual-momento-politico-no-mas-abortos-clandestinos/
