The rights of the unborn silenced by the Senate of Chile – and by its President.

By Marianna Orlandi, Ph.D. | August 25, 2016

After the approval by the House of Representatives, last March, Chile’s new abortion bill is now ready to be approved by the Senate. If the law passes, killing an unborn child will no more be a crime in cases of rape, when the mother’s life is at risk, and when the unborn child suffers a disability likely to be fatal.

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Carolina Goic, Senator of the Christian Democratic Party and President of the Senate’s health commission, recently declared that the hearings are now at their final stages, and that the vote could be scheduled for September. The recent hearings, however, have been at the center of the media’s attention and criticism; some even questioned the validity of the hearings.

The members of the commission were often late, if not absent, to these hearings. In addition, several pro-life organizations were completely left out from testifying, while organizations and individuals linked to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world’s biggest abortion provider, were given at least four chances to testify.

Many of the neglected NGOs would have provided testimony precisely on the “exceptions” that the new law creates; but, perhaps, the senators are not interested—or the agenda is already set.

When an abortion survivor, Massiel Moreno, offered her hearth-breaking testimony against the new law, Senator Carolina Goic was the only one present for the whole time. The same thing happened when a woman, raped when she was twelve years old, and proud to be mother, gave her speech in defense of life.

Rosario Vidal, President of “Mujeres Reivindica”, a movement that protects mothers and motherhood, told C-Fam that “abortion must be fought because it is the greatest form of violence against women”. “If there is one thing that modern society forgets, it is the rights – and the value – of mothers,” she said.

In the words of Rosana Landaluce, representative of InformAborto, an organization which fights for the human rights of the unborn: “In Chile we know that to abort is to torture and to kill a baby. The main objective of this government is to impose its law on abortion and it is doing it against the constitution. Chile does not want the death of its sons and daughters, but their protection!”.

Just four years ago, indeed, Chile declared its absolute defense of life in the face of UN experts and bureaucracy, without exceptions. In 2012, at the UN conference “Rio+20: The Future We Want”, it stated that the “right to life” is “incompatible with the term reproductive rights”. On that occasion, the bold voice of Chile helped block the global abortion agenda and protect the life of innocent babies.

Most recently, Chile invested 150,000 dollars in a program on pregnancies’ and gender violence prevention for the youth, which will be implemented by the abortionist organization “APROFA” (Asociación Chilena de Protección de la Familia): the local Planned Parenthood affiliate.

The only plausible explanation for such a radical and quick change lies in the influential past of a President – Michelle Bachelet – who was the UN voice for “reproductive rights’” for many years. Her anti-life stance does not represent the people, nor the values of Chile.

In an online survey, hosted on the webpage of the Chilean Senate, 73% of voters oppose the new bill. As commented in this video, even more Chilean people now oppose Michelle Bachelet. Never before has a Chilean President reported such a low approval rating.

A few days ago, some of the most prominent scholars of Chile denounced another project of this “progressive” government, aimed at giving legal recognition to “gender identity”. Along with the academia, the Chilean Bishops’ Conference called the laity to action, to defend the unborn and dignity of every human being.