[3] The shift toward broader reproductive rights began in 2006 when activists successfully pushed for the legalization of emergency contraceptives under President Michelle Bachelet's administration.
[3] Similarly, in 2022, a proposed constitution that included provisions for reproductive rights and abortion legalization was rejected by a majority of Chilean voters in a national referendum.
In 1931, the Health Code introduced a provision allowing therapeutic abortion,[12] permitting women whose lives were at risk to undergo the procedure with the approval of two doctors.
"[13] The current laws regarding abortion are codified in the penal code under articles 342 to 345, which address "Crimes and Offences against Family Order, Public Morality and Sexual Integrity.
[5][6][7] The court ruling allowed health facilities to refuse to provide abortions by claiming "conscientious objector" status, although the bill, as approved by Congress, granted this right only to individuals.
[8][9] On March 23, 2018, the incoming administration of Sebastián Piñera made modifications to the protocol, allowing private health institutions receiving state funds to invoke conscientious objection.
[23] In October 2018, the government published an amended protocol, reinstating the prohibition on private health institutions receiving state funds from invoking conscientious objection.
[24] Nevertheless, in December 2018, the Constitutional Court, acting on a request from a group of lawmakers supporting the sitting administration, deemed that specific section of the protocol unconstitutional.
This amendment was made due to the belief that with medical advances in maternal care, abortion was no longer seen as a necessary means of saving a woman's life.
[27] A 2015 study by the Chilean epidemiologist Elard Koch has shown that the decreasing trend in maternal deaths due to abortion has continued through 2009.
[32] A 1997 study found that the majority of eighty women prosecuted in Santiago for having an abortion were young, single mothers, and that many were domestic workers who had moved to the city from rural areas.
It also found most of the women were reported to authorities by the hospital at which they sought treatment for their complications, and had no legal representation, or were defended by inexperienced law students.
[34] A July 2008 all-female nationwide face-to-face poll by NGO Corporación Humanas found that 79.2% of Chilean women were in favor of decriminalizing abortion when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk; 67.9% said it was urgent to legislate on the matter.
[40] In the 1960s, the Church supported family planning initiatives aimed at reducing maternal mortality rates and stemming the rapid population growth of the time.
[41] In November 2004, the United Nations (UN) committee monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) ruled that Chile should allow abortion in cases of rape and incest.
In 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Council expressed concern over the country's "improperly restrictive" legislation on abortion, especially in cases where the life of the mother is at risk.