For years, abortion activists in Chile, aided by international anti-Life groups, have tried to legalize abortion in the strongly Pro-Life South American country. Until this week, Chile was one of four countries in the world in which taking the Life of a preborn child was not legal under any circumstances. Chile’s constitutional court ruled on Monday to uphold legislation that allows abortion in cases of rape, when a mother’s Life is in danger (even though abortion is never needed to save the Life of the mother), and in cases of fetal abnormality. President Michelle Bachelet has not yet signed the anti-Life measure passed by Congress earlier this month, but she is expected to soon. The narrow ruling, decided with a vote of 6-4, is a setback for the years’ long battle to defend the lives of the preborn in Chile.
The Associated Press reports that the anti-Life group Miles celebrated the decision as a “historic moment that marks a before and after for Chilean women.” Miles is the same anti-Life group that gained international notoriety after posting satirical videos of women violently self-inducing abortions through dangerous means. The head of International Planned Parenthood in the Western Hemisphere Region, Giselle Carino, also lauded the ruling, saying the previous Pro-Life law was “an outrageous, cruel, and blatant violation of human rights.” Notably, Carino and the international band of anti-Life activists ignore the human rights of the preborn Chileans have worked to protect.
Pro-Life advocates remain committed to defending the preborn despite this week’s unfavorable ruling. Life News reports that “Pro-life Catholic leaders promised to continue fighting for unborn babies in Chile after the country’s highest court upheld a measure to strip away unborn babies’ right to life on Monday.” Pro-Lifers have resisted the international efforts to intervene in the Pro-Life country. The group Nadie Sobra organized Pro-Lifers and continues to offer updates through an online following. Another group, Reivindica Feminist Movement in Chile, made international headlines last year when they marched through the streets of their nation broadcasting the voices of their preborn children – their heartbeats. In a creative and powerful demonstration, pregnant mothers strapped fetal heart monitors to their bellies and amplified the sound of their children’s heartbeats using megaphones.
The international anti-Life effort to undermine one of the most strongly Pro-Life nations in the world serves as a warning to other Pro-Life nations. Carino, the Planned Parenthood executive, signaled that we can expect to see similar assaults by well-funded anti-Life organizations in other Pro-Life nations. Carino noted that laws similar to Chile’s recently ended protections for the preborn “are currently on the books in several countries including El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.” Although the ruling in Chile only allows abortions in specific cases, Pro-Lifers know well that removing protections for the Right to Life of any group threatens the sanctity of human Life for all.