The emotional speech of the Chilean constituent Loreto Vidal: “My mother lost her life in a septic abortion” | International

“I am 52 years old; 47 of absence of my mother, who lost her life during a septic abortion, ”said the Chilean constituent Loreto Vidal before her colleagues on Tuesday. “For her and too many others, guarantees and security and protection did not exist,” he added before requesting that the voluntary interruption of pregnancy be part of the draft of the new Constitution with which the country hopes to repeal the Magna Carta in force since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

“They seek to separate us between those who are in favor of life and those who apparently are in favor of death. For the life of my mother and through her memory, for the thousands of women who are not here today, I invite you from the depths of my soul to approve this right, ”Loreto asked before the Constituent Convention during the emotional speech. her. On her bench could be seen the green scarf that symbolizes the fight for legal abortion in Latin America.

In Chile, the voluntary interruption of pregnancy was prohibited in all cases until 2017, when it was legalized in cases of rape, risk to the mother’s health, and fetal inviability. This Tuesday, the Constitutional Convention approved by 108 votes in favor, 39 against and 6 abstentions to include the decriminalization of abortion in the bill. According to the text, the State must guarantee “the conditions for a voluntary and protected pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood.” This text was included in the section on sexual and reproductive rights.

The constituents must deliver the draft of the new Magna Carta before next July 4. Later, the document will be submitted to a plebiscite in which Chileans must decide whether to approve the new Constitution or maintain the one inherited from Pinochet.

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