Chilean Constitutional Court approves bill decriminalizing voluntary termination of pregnancy

Chilean Constitutional Court approved a bill that decriminalizes the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in three causes, life threatening of the mother, fetal unfeasibility and pregnancy for rape.

In relation to the right to life of the unborn, the Constitutional Court states that “the Constitution does not grant to the unborn the category of person. This does not prevent it from being a legal right of the greatest relevance.” In addition, the document specifies that the “National Congress is much more qualified and legitimized to resolve a controversy on when the life of the unborn begins, than this Judiciary, given the lack of an explicit rule in the Constitution” According to their analysis, the Magna Carta “is silent about the beginning of that condition”.

Regarding the cause of rape, it is stated that “the woman does not have to take charge of the effects of the crime” and that “it is a matter of giving the woman a belated defense of the vexatious attack she was subjected to.”

Regarding conscientious objection, the document states that “conscientious objection can be raised legitimately by legal entities or private associations”, and “religious institutions, juridical entities or entities with denominational ideals that are projected towards the field Of the health”.

See Judgment of the Constitutional Court