(CNN Spanish) — This Saturday the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, announced in his third public account that this year a legal abortion bill will be introduced and that he will give urgency to another euthanasia and palliative care bill that until now remains in the Senate. The public account is a traditional instance in Chile in which the president presents a speech before Congress and reports on the administrative and political status of his administration.
“I am convinced of the need to have a democratic debate on sexual and reproductive rights. That is why, during the second half of this year, we will introduce a legal abortion bill, which we will submit to the corresponding discussion, always with the commitment that animates our government: to move forward and not to go backwards. The women of Chile deserve their right to decide,” said Boric from Congress in the city of Valparaíso.
The 38-year-old president explained that “in September 2017, President Bachelet enacted Law 21,030, which allowed access to voluntary termination of pregnancy on three grounds. Seven years have passed and, with that prudent evaluation time, we have decided to improve its application. Thus, we have submitted a new regulation for this law to the Comptroller’s Office. With this, we seek to guarantee that the population knows their options, ensure a right that is established by law and that personal conscientious objection does not hinder abortion on these three grounds, and that the place where one lives and the ability to pay does not “are a barrier to timely care.”
After making this announcement, some opposition parliamentarians left the Congress hall.
Regarding the initiative on euthanasia, Gabriel Boric stated: “We owe a response to those who suffer from incurable terminal diseases that entail an advanced and irreversible decrease in their capacities, with persistent and intolerable physical suffering that cannot be alleviated and that he or the patient “they consider it unacceptable.” And he added: “I will put urgency and we will promote the euthanasia and palliative care bill that is currently in the Senate, because passing this law is an act of empathy, responsibility and respect.”
Among other measures, Boric announced that Chile will apply to organize the 2036 Olympic Games and that they will oppose any type of commercial exploitation of minerals and hydrocarbons in Antarctica.
Regarding the Israel – Hamas war, the president noted that Chile “will become part of and support the case that South Africa presented against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, within the framework of the UN Genocide Convention. “I have ordered the Foreign Ministry teams to prepare a document with our arguments.”
