February, 03 2015, 04:15pm EDT
President Bachelet Introduces Legislation to Decriminalize Abortion in Chile
President Michelle Bachelet of Chile introduced a bill Saturday that would allow women access to safe and legal abortion services in cases of sexual violence, fetal impairments and life-endangerment.
If passed, this bill would make Chile the 37th country to decriminalize abortion in certain circumstances in the last 20 years and put an end to the country's absolute ban on abortion and the harsh penalties associated with it. Upon her election in May 2014, President Bachelet promised to prioritize the decriminalization of abortion for the women of Chile.
NEW YORK
President Michelle Bachelet of Chile introduced a bill Saturday that would allow women access to safe and legal abortion services in cases of sexual violence, fetal impairments and life-endangerment.
If passed, this bill would make Chile the 37th country to decriminalize abortion in certain circumstances in the last 20 years and put an end to the country's absolute ban on abortion and the harsh penalties associated with it. Upon her election in May 2014, President Bachelet promised to prioritize the decriminalization of abortion for the women of Chile.
Said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:
"With this legislation, Chile has an historic opportunity to lead the way toward more fully empowering women, protecting women's health and safety, and fulfilling women's fundamental human rights throughout Latin America.
"Extreme abortion bans like Chile's have forced countless women into the shadows when they need to end a pregnancy, risking imprisonment and even their lives.
"While there is much more to do to eliminate the harsh restrictions that have criminalized women's health care in Chile for too long, this is a bold and important first step.
"We commend President Bachelet for making women's reproductive rights a legislative priority, and we call on Congress to act quickly to pass this bill."
The recently introduced bill would only allow women to access an abortion legally within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in cases of sexual assault, in cases of severe fetal impairments and life-endangerment. . While the legislation is an historic and important step to decriminalize abortion in Chile, the proposed law would require authorization from two medical professionals and does not explicitly allow for a health exception.
"While this proposed legislation is a positive step toward guaranteeing women's rights, it falls short in protecting pregnant women's rights to health and dignity," said Monica Arango, regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Chile's 1931 health code legalized abortion in limited circumstances, but this reproductive health service was later banned in all circumstances in September 1989. From 2001-2012 close to 400,000 women sought post-abortion care in Chilean public hospitals.
According to a 2014 report published by the Center, 35 countries have amended their laws to expand access to safe and legal abortion services in the last 20 years--a trend that has marked incredible progress toward improving women's rights and lives, including significantly reducing rates of maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion. The report was released alongside the Center's updated World's Abortion Laws map--one of the most comprehensive resources on abortion laws across the globe.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global human rights organization of lawyers and advocates who ensure reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights for the dignity, equality, health, and well-being of every person.
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UN Chief Warns of Israel's Syria Invasion and Land Seizures
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Other countries including France, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have criticized Israel's invasion, while the United States defended the move.
"The Syrian army abandoned its positions in the area... which potentially creates a vacuum that could have been filled by terrorist organizations," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing earlier this week. "Israel has said that these actions are temporary to defend its borders. These are not permanent actions... We support all sides upholding the 1974 disengagement agreement."
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
Two other Medicare for All advocates, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also made clear to Business Insider that they oppose Thompson's murder but understand some of the responses to it.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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