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November5,2014
13-year-old rape victim’s non-viable pregnancy stirs up debate on the legalization of therapeutic abortion in Chile. Photo by
Joaquín Hernández / Flickr.
Child’s pregnancy rings alarm
bells on abortion debate in
Chile
13-year-old rape victim’s non-viable pregnancy ur-
ges gov. to speed up debate on therapeutic abortion.
Following a 13-year-old girl’s ad-
mission into a Santiago hospital
due to her pregnancy’s non via-
bility, Chilean politicians are cla-
moring for an abortion proposal
New anti-terrorist law to C e n t e r - l e f t
extend investigative powers, seeks to quell
penalties
Widely backed gover- also gives prosecutors many more bickering
nment proposal would resources, with the safeguard of a
extend definition of te-
rrorism and facilitate de-
ployment of undercover
police.
Three months in the making, a
government initiative to reform
Chile’s anti-terrorist law was han-
ded Monday afternoon to the Se-
nate.
The 43-page document proposes
greater powers for investigators
and extends the definition of te-
rrorism to cover a range of offen-
ces. Counter-terror investigations
will also make use of undercover
agents, previously only deployed in
drug trafficking cases.
“It gets to grips with terrorism as
it’s conceived today around the
world, allowing judges to apply sui-
table sentences while taking into
account individual terrorists…. It
The Santiago Times | 227 Santa María, Oficina 12, Recoleta, Santiago de Chile | Phone:
www.santiagotimes.cl
— currently gathering dust — to
make its way through government
channels at long last.
The child, now 33 weeks along in
inter-coalition
human rights judge,” said Interior
Minister Rodrigo Peñailillo upon
handing in the document.
Peñailillo’s proposals, the product
of a two-month legal commission
and consultation process across
political divides, were met with
broad cross-party support as they
were submitted to the Senate’s
Constitution, Legislation and Justi-
ce Commission.
“We want to thank the Interior Mi-
nister, who has taken on this issue
as a state policy, a position which
we’ve always held,” said Sen. Alber-
to Espina of the center-right Natio-
nal Renewal (RN) party.
“Protecting citizens and guaran-
teeing social peace is not a favor
which the state and government
give to Chileans, but a duty,” he
added.
Meanwhile, Sen. Felipe Harboe of
her pregnancy, was allegedly raped
by a family member. Doctors infor-
med her that due to cardiac mal-
formation, the fetus is non viable.
President Michelle Bachelet in-
troduced a proposal in May that
would decriminalize abortion
under three specific circumstan-
ces: when the life of the mother is
endangered, when conception oc-
curs as a result of a violation and
if the fetus proves to be non viable.
However, the proposal has failed to
make any headway.
Christian Democrats
affirm commitment to
Bachelet’s government
despite perceived ‘lack of
respect’ from fellow Nue-
va Mayoría politicians.
Members of the center-left Chris-
tian Democrat (DC) party gathered
on Monday to address the party’s
growing rift with some member
parties of Chile’s governing left-
wing coalition.
The meeting was convened last
Thursday after former DC Dep. Gu-
tenberg Martínez called on the Na-
tional Council, the party’s conflict
resolution body, to discuss the alle-
ged “mistreatment” of Christian
Democrats in the governing Nueva
Mayoría coalition. The DC’s Na-
tional Council, which requires the
support from at least two thirds of
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Lidia Casas, a law professor and
researcher at Universidad Diego
Portales, told The Santiago Times
that the doctors tending to the
pregnant minor were responsible
for her health and wellbeing and as
such face a delicate legal situation.
“Any kind of risk that jeopardizes
the girl’s health or life is the me-
dical facility’s responsibility,” she
said.
“To keep a non-viable fetus alive
past the 32nd week is cruel, inhu-
mane and degrading treatment.
The fetus is being treated as if
it were a person with rights, but
there’s nothing there — it’s a death
foretold. And despite this, they’re
keeping the girl in this inhumane
and cruel situation,” she added.
Casas explained that the debate on
abortion still faces an uphill battle,
as many issues, such as doctor-pa-
tient confidentiality, have not even
been discussed yet.
“There is a whole other level of re-
form that needs to be taken into
account, which is repealing all laws
that force medical personnel to
report women who come to them
due to complications resulting
from abortions,” she said.
Headline-making news on the
child’s pregnancy has prompted
DC President Ignacio Walker called
for more “mutual respect” among
coalition members. Photo via Flickr.
the party in order to convene, had
not been assembled in four years.
Following four hours of delibera-
tion, members of the DC resolved
to put the conflict to bed but kept
a firm hand against their alleged
attackers. The past weeks have
been marked by a series of con-
troversies and incendiary remarks
against the DC which party presi-
dent Sen. Ignacio Walker described
as a “lack of respect.”
“Some have tried to override the
DC, while others have tried to di-
vide and belittle us. But we are not
going to put up with any of that,”
Fuad Chahin, the party’s vice presi-
dent, told press.
November5,2014
HUMAN RIGHTS
Continued from Front Page
politicians to voice their outrage at
government inaction.
“Unfortunately, Chile is stuck in the
Middle Ages, in some sort of moral
dictatorship in which individuals
can’t make decisions regarding
matters for which they should be
able to make them,” left-wing Party
for Democracy (PPD) Sen. Guido
Girardi, the president of the Senate
Health Commission, told press.
“Every family and every person
who suffers from rape and beco-
mes pregnant as a result should be
able to decide to end the pregnan-
cy and not have to go to prison for
that decision. Or if a woman has
a non-viable fetus, she should be
able to end the pregnancy given
that the fetus would die,” he added.
Communist Party (PC) Dep. Karol
LAW
Continued from Front Page
the left-leaning Party for Demo-
cracy (PPD) noted that “beyond
the legitimate political differences
that we might have, there’s a una-
nimous view that we must legislate
thinking of the country.”
The new definition of terrorism in-
cludes individuals operating alone,
as well as those part of a “criminal
terrorist association.”
The use of prosecution-immune
undercover agents and informants
is also be to extended significantly,
subject to approval in each case
by a human rights judge. Agents
will be “exempt of criminal res-
ponsibility for those crimes which
they had to participate in, or
couldn’t prevent…when necessary
for and proportionate with the
investigation’s objective,” according
to the document.
However, the authorized under-
cover agents are solely defined as
“police,” not including National
Intelligence Agency (ANI) opera-
tives, as some right-wing senators
had hoped for. Provision will be
made for the creation of fake iden-
tities for undercover police, whose
use will be authorized in renewable
60-day periods.
Terrorist associations are defined
in the first article as any organi-
zation which through “the perpe-
tration of crimes planned by it…
seeks to undermine or destroy the
democratic institutional order, se-
riously disrupt public order, make
demands of political authority or
reverse its policies, or instill ge-
neral fear among the population
about the loss or damage of funda-
The Santiago Times | 227 Santa María, Oficina 12, Recoleta, Santiago de Chile | Phone:
www.santiagotimes.cl
Cariola, a member of the Chamber
of Deputies Health Commission,
also urged the government to spe-
ed up the legalization process.
“I understand that the Senate will
be debating at least one of the laws
that is undergoing the preliminary
stages. However, we still have no
clear sign of whether the executive
will go through with a new law and
in which government chamber the
debate will begin in,” Cariola said.
Chile is one of five countries in
Latin America with a total ban on
abortion — the others being Nica-
ragua, Honduras, El Salvador and
the Dominican Republic.
> By Amanda Ruttlant
Copyright 2014 –
The Santiago Times
Interior Minister Rodrigo Peñaillo
handed in anti-terror proposals
to the Moneda palace yesterday,
which include the expanded use
of undercover police. Photo via
Wikipedia Commons.
mental rights.”
The modifications to the law are
expected to pass the Committee in
the next few days. It will then pass
to the Senate, joining a forthco-
ming revised version of Chile’s in-
telligence law, “where there will be
time to discuss both projects,” said
Peñailillo.
A campaign promise by President
Michelle Bachelet to reform the an-
ti-terrorist law became an urgent
priority in September following a
spate of bomb attacks in the capital
and nearby. Fourteen were woun-
ded in a bombing near Santiago’s
Escuela Militar Metro station on
Sept. 8.
The death of Sergio Landskron in
a Sept. 25 explosion in the Yungay
neighborhood represented the first
innocent fatality from an act of te-
rrorism in the country since 1990.
> By Laurie Blair
Copyright 2014 –
The Santiago Times
POLITICS
Continued from Front Page
The DC reiterated its support of
President Michelle Bachelet’s go-
vernment but called for better lea-
dership from the executive.
“The government should make its
objectives clearer and leadership
should more clearly voice their
opinions,” a statement from the DC
reads.
The DC recently came under fire
for refusing to vote in favor of a
measure in the government’s land-
mark education reform that would
criminalize profit-making in state-
subsidized schools. Socialist Party
(PS) Dep. Fidel Espinoza accused
dissenting DC politicians of lac-
king loyalty to the coalition.
Communist Party (PC) Dep. Karol
Cariola leaked the names of those
who opposed the measure crimi-
nalizing profiteering on Twitter,
drawing a strong response from
the DC who threatened to with-
draw from coalition meetings un-
less the accused deputies received
an apology. PS Dep. Silvio Rossi
further exacerbated the conflict by
suggesting that certain members
of the DC had links to the educa-
tion business.
According to an investigation from
the Center of Investigative Jour-
nalism (CIPER), the former vice-
president of the DC, Walter Oliva,
owns eight schools which recei-
ved approximately US$12,000 in
state subsidies in 2013. He is one
of several other members of the
DC said to own state-subsidized
schools.
The DC’s alleged relationship with
the regime of Gen. Augusto Pino-
chet has also been cause for con-
troversy within the Nueva Mayo-
ría. Chile’s Ambassador to Uruguay
and PC member Eduardo Contre-
ras caused a media storm a few
weeks ago when he accused the DC
of aiding the 1973 military coup.
The scandal ended with an order
from Foreign Minister Heraldo
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Muñoz barring diplomatic repre-
sentatives from publicly discussing
Chilean politics.
Tensions between the DC and the
PS reached a boiling point when
Espinoza took to Twitter on Oct.23,
publishing a homemade meme de-
picting a young DC Sen. Ignacio
Walker sharing a joke with Gen.
Augusto Pinochet.
The parties agreed to organized a
special bilateral meeting on Mon-
day to openly address their diffe-
rences.
Meanwhile, the government has
deflected claims that the coalition
is imploding.
“There is no crisis. All the parties
from the Nueva Mayoría have sup-
ported our program,” Bachelet told
reporters after the DC called the
National Council.
Following the DC’s meeting, Alvaro
Elizalde, the government’s spokes-
person, stressed the center-left
party’s importance to the Nueva
Mayoría and called for greater uni-
ty.
“Every party in the Nueva Mayoría
is essential. We need to work to-
gether to solve the problems that
affect Chileans,” he said.
> By Valerie Dekimpe
Copyright 2014 –
The Santiago Times
THE SANTIAGO TIMES
EDITORIAL
Editors
George Nelson, Meaghan Beatley
Publisher
Stephen Anderson
Reporters
Valerie Dekimpe, Laurie Blair, Amanda Ruttlant
Communications
Tracey Chandler
Administration
Alejandra Díaz