Abortion in Chile - Legal Background

Legal Background

Therapeutic abortion was permitted by the Health Code in 1931 but abolished by the military dictatorship on September 15, 1989, arguing that due to advances in medicine it was "no longer justifiable." Before the ban, any woman whose life was in danger could ask to get an abortion, if she had the approval of two doctors.

Current laws against abortion are codified in the Penal Code articles 342 to 345 under the title "Crimes and Offences against Family Order, Public Morality and Sexual Integrity." The Penal Code punishes induced abortion, as well as those caused by a violent act against a woman. The person practicing the abortion with the consent of the woman is also punished. The penalty for seeking an abortion is 3–5 years in jail and 541 days to three-years jail time for providing an abortion. The country's constitution in article 19-1, states that "the law protects the life of those about to be born."

Since 1990 15 abortion-related bills have been submitted by legislators to Congress for discussion; 12 in the Chamber of Deputies and three in the Senate. About half called to either increase existing penalties or to create legal barriers to make it more difficult for abortion to be legalized. Two other bills suggested erecting monuments to the "innocent victims of abortion." Four bills have requested for abortion to be allowed when the mother's life is at risk and one in the case of rape. Nine are currently in review and one has been rejected. Five others have been archived, which means they have not been discussed for two years. Two identical bills requesting for the reestablishment of therapeutic abortion, as it was before 1989, are currently in review in the Chamber's Medical Commission, the first submitted on January 23, 2003, and the latest on March 19, 2009.