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.