Valparaiso ( Chile), 4 Apr ( EFE).-Chilean Senate today rejected the three bills seeking to replace therapeutic abortion, abolished in 1989, in the last days of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) who decided to penalise the interruption of the pregnancy in all its Forms in Chile.
Despite the discussion, covering in total five legislative sessions, the parliamentarians decided to not give the green light to any of the three projects who wanted to standardize the Chilean legislation in this area with those of the developed countries.
After the refusal of the Senate, Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said that “the Senate has risen, it protected the weakest, children who are about to be born, as stated in the policy of the Government of President (Sebastian) Piñera”.
As the President of the Senate, the Socialist Camilo Escalona, author of one of the rejected projects, lamented the pronouncement of his peers at the time told to expect that this does not harm the international image of Chile.
“I hope that the international community understands that Chilean democracy is still growing,” sentenced.
For his part, Senator of the party for democracy, Jaime Quintana, pointed out that “Chile women were as prohibited, because a conservative group encroached the power to decide by them”.
First draft resistance therapeutic abortion in case of risk of life for the mother and which was greater viability to be finally approved was rejected by 18 votes against and 15 in favour.
The second that referred to the eugenic abortion, i.e. one in which the fetus has pathologies incompatible with life; and that allowed abortion to women victims of rape, was rejected by 22 votes to 9.
The third initiative which was also rejected by 19 votes against and 12 in favour referred to vale, Ectopic pregnancies tell those where the fetus nests in the tubes, requiring surgical intervention to terminate the pregnancy by the impossibility of subsistence.
With these rejections, the Senate not may discuss projects on abortion until the deadline of one year more, as established by the organic legislation.
Chile is one of the 8 countries of the world which has no legislation on abortion, including Haiti, the Vatican, Dominican Republic and Malta.
Despite the ban abortions reported in the country reach some 40,000 annual, but reproductive experts estimate that each year occur 160,000 clandestinely.
Furthermore, the Catholic Church held at the end of 2010, that no one has the right to arrogate to itself the power to decide for the life of another allusion to the debate on therapeutic abortion reopened with force in Chile in Chile.
The Episcopal Conference stressed at the time that “the level of development of a community is measured by the ability to take care of the weak and sick”, so “no one has the right to arrogate to itself the power to decide what life deserves to see the light of day and what not”.
In this line, emphasized that “basic human values”, such as “respect for life, caring for the weakest, as well as solidarity, compassion and justice” must be respected. EFE
