Chile: Extreme anti-abortion law creates climate of fear and substandard health care for women
Chile: Extreme anti-abortion law creates climate of fear and substandard health care for women
28 September 2015, 05:01 UTC
Chile’s draconian anti-abortion law is treating women as second-class citizens and putting their lives and health at risk, said Amnesty International amid a heated congressional debate to modify the legislation.
“Chile’s outrageous abortion ban creates a climate of fear among health professionals whose first thought is often to report a woman or a girl to the police for a suspected abortion rather than give them life-saving treatment. It creates a two-tiered health system in which women are seen as mere child-bearing vessels,” said Fernanda Doz Costa, Researcher on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Americas at Amnesty International.
“Chile must finally move away from this draconian Pinochet-era prohibition. The evidence is clear that banning abortions in all circumstances does not stop abortions from happening. All it does is to force women and girls, particularly those with few resources, to seek back-door dangerous treatments that put their lives at risk. Though still limited, the Bill that is currently under discussion may become an important first step in the right direction.”
Under Chile’s anti-abortion law, passed in 1989 during the final stages of Augusto Pinochet’s brutal regime, abortion is illegal even when the life or the health of the woman or girl is at risk and when the pregnancy is a result of rape. President Bachelet sent a Bill to Congress to reintroduce exceptions to this total ban when the life of the woman or girl is at risk, when the pregnancy is a result of rape and when the foetus is not viable.
More:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/09/chile-extreme-anti-abortion-law-creates-climate-of-fear-and-substandard-health-care-for-women/
LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141218519