Chile’s abortion rights movement faces uphill battle
Santiago, Chile – Siomara Molina stands on the steps of the Chilean National Library on a busy street in the heart of Chile’s capital.
Waving fists in the air and wearing green scarves, symbolic of the Latin American movement for abortion rights, Molina and the dozens of women around her chant: “Abortion yes, abortion no, that’s my decision”.
Abortion is illegal in Chile, a traditionally Catholic country, except in three limited circumstances: nonviable pregnancies, rape or risks to a mother’s life.
And a years-long push by rights advocates to loosen those restrictions suffered a serious blow last year when Chileans rejected a new draft constitution that would have enshrined reproductive health and bodily autonomy as fundamental rights.
But despite the setback, as an estimated 400,000 women gathered to mark International Women’s Day in Santiago and other cities this week, access to safe, free and legal abortion remains one of the Chilean feminist movement’s key demands.
“Today’s framework is one of the most restrictive in the world. It does not give women the autonomy to make decisions,” said Molina, spokeswoman for the Permanent Assembly for Abortion Legalisation. She is marching together with other feminist groups campaigning for a myriad of gender equality causes.
“Breaking the social stigma is urgent, that we create actions that lead to dialogue and conversations,” she told Al Jazeera, affirming her belief in the power of protest. “The street belongs to us, and we will keep protesting.”
This year is especially significant in the fight for abortion rights in Chile, as 2023 marks 50 years since General Augusto Pinochet staged a bloody coup and seized power. During his 17-year rule, Pinochet forced conservative, Catholic values on the country, and in 1989, a year before his regime ended, he prohibited abortion in all circumstances.
“The last thing Pinochet did was ban abortion, and since then there’s been a chain of violations against women and girls who cannot make decisions [over their own bodies],” Molina said. “We’ve tried to change the framework, but we live in a country shaped by the dictatorship.”
Still, in the last three years, Chileans have taken significant steps to break free from the late dictator’s enduring imprint on the country.