By Alexander Villegas and Lucinda Elliott
VALPARAISO, Chile (Reuters) -An effort by Chilean President Gabriel Boric to expand abortion rights in the final months of his administration could finally give him a progressive legacy after three years in office but it is an uphill task that Latin American conservatives are hoping will fail as they seek to reverse gains for the abortion rights movement in the region.
Leftist Boric set off a fierce debate in Congress this week with a bill to ease restrictions on abortion.
The attempt to fulfill a campaign promise comes at the tail end of an administration that has failed to deliver on progressive proposals such as wideranging tax reforms and a liberal new constitution, which was rejected at a referendum in 2022.
Chile’s proposed law would decriminalize abortion and allow for the termination of pregnancies up to 14 weeks under any circumstance, putting the country on par with neighboring Argentina.
Recent expansions in Colombia and Mexico have cemented even broader abortion rights. But Boric’s proposal does not appear to have the support in Congress to pass, potentially making the issue a central part of campaigns ahead of a November vote to replace him as president and elect most of the legislature.
Reproductive rights may also face push back in neighboring Argentina where abortion was decriminalized in 2020.
Argentine President Javier Milei, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has cut some federal funding for contraceptives and emergency contraception, commonly known as the ‘morning after pill.’
“Demographic policies should be rethought beyond the atrocity of killing human beings developing in their mother’s womb,” Milei wrote in a recent op-ed.
Milei has focused on taming runaway inflation, but mid-term elections later this year are likely to broaden his support, based on his strength in a recent Buenos Aires vote. That could test his readiness to push through a socially conservative agenda.
Constanza Schonhaut, a lawyer and executive director of human rights organization Corporacion Humanas, noted that the abortion debate has increasingly transcended borders as both far right groups and feminist organizations form alliances online.
“What happens in Chile can influence other countries and vice versa,” Schonhaut said. “In an increasingly connected world, it is not only feminist organizations that are coordinating internationally.”
When Boric announced the legislation during his last annual address to the nation on Sunday, legislators waving green and purple bandanas that represent abortion rights cheered.
“Generations of women have lived and fought for this,” Boric said. “Don’t deny them at least the democratic debate as citizens capable of deciding for themselves.”
Members of the conservative bench jeered and shouted, “No abortion!” and several walked out.
“Why does (Boric) insist knowing he doesn’t have the votes? Why? To insult us,” Johannes Kaiser, a far-right firebrand legislator and among the leading presidential contenders, told reporters after leaving the room.
A Monday poll showed 25% of voters favor the new proposal while 55% prefer to stick with the current legislation and 19% favor banning abortion.
LATIN AMERICA
Chile’s minister of women and gender, Antonia Orellana, who is overseeing the bill through Congress, acknowledged the proposal faces an uphill battle but said that was also the case with a 2017 law that allowed abortion in limited circumstances, such as rape.
“It was work that took a long time and that’s what we’re aiming for,” Orellana said, adding that the goal is to create a “genuine debate.”
Chile has rejected two attempts to rewrite the constitution, including one supported by Boric that would have expanded rights and a second conservative-led attempt that threatened the limited rights women have to abortion.
“Our country gave a very clear sign that it doesn’t want to roll back women’s rights,” Orellana said, noting that abortion rights were not the main reason voters rejected the first proposal, but defending them was a key reason women rejected the second one.
The World Health Organization estimates that three of every four abortions in Latin America were unsafe last year. Despite legislation, many abortions take place outside the public healthcare system.
The election outlook in Chile is unclear. Polls consistently show the top candidates varying from right to far right. For Congress, a May poll by Centro de Estudios Publicos shows left-wing parties with 17% support, 19% for conservatives and 39% for centrist parties.
Politicians like Milei, Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whose country has Latin America’s strictest abortion ban, have gained popularity in Chile as crime and immigration have come to top voters’ mind.
This has propelled candidates like Kaiser, who proposed shutting down the border and deploying the military to fight crime, to the top of polls, alongside fellow ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast and current frontrunner, experienced conservative Evelyn Matthei.
Elisa Walker, a Chilean lawyer and policy expert based in Washington says the bill will likely depend on the next administration. “This is a bill that is always challenging to discuss. There’s no ideal or perfect timing,” she said.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas in Valparaiso and Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo; Additional reporting by Lucila Sigal in Buenos Aires and Natalia Siniawski in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Henderson and Alistair Bell)
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