Tag Archives: Country: Chile

Chileb.cl: Interestingly, both countries have the least permissive abortion laws in the world, while still displaying negligible abortion-related mortality. This challenges the myth according to which the restriction of abortion leads to hundreds -even thousands- deaths due to abortion: that’s untrue.

New York Times: Volunteers for the Safe Abortion Hot Line in Chile routinely wear masks when showing support in public for the organization in a country where abortion is illegal under any circumstances.

AP: Chile’s government has apologized to a lesbian judge who was denied custody of her three daughters because she is gay.

AP: Lawyers for Chile’s government argued Thursday that judges at the United Nations’ highest court should reject a request by Peru to draw a maritime boundary between the two countries, arguing the boundary was settled in a 1952 treaty.

Santiago Times: Chile’s Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) announced its lawsuit Monday against the Chilean state over the prohibition of same sex marriages in the country. The lawsuit, which Movilh says is the first of its kind, was presented to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

UPI: Chile’s prohibition of same-sex marriage has prompted a lawsuit by the country’s leading advocate for gay rights, a spokesman for the group said.

AP: Chile’s president signed an anti-discrimination law Thursday following the killing of a gay man beaten by attackers who carved swastikas into his body.

Hunter T. Carter at Americas Quarterly: However, the consensus toward marriage equality is not seen across our hemisphere. Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, along with Central America and the Caribbean, prohibit or do not recognize marriage, or any other form of protection for relationships, of same-sex couples.

C-FAM: Chilean medical researcher published a landmark study on the connection between the availability of abortion and maternal health. He found legal abortion does not contribute to maternal health and showed this using voluminous data from the extensive medical history of Chile.

LifeSiteNews: A bill to prohibit “discrimination” against homosexuals recently passed by the Chilean National Congress is likely to result in the approval of homosexual “marriage” and adoption, and may even lead to the persecution of Christians, according to HazteOir Chile (“Make Yourself Heard – Chile”).

Religion Clause Blog: It includes differential treatment based on a broad range of characteristics: race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, ideology, political opinion, religious beliefs, participation in organizations or lack thereof, sex, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, health and disabilities. In the past, opponents of the law, including Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, had been concerned that it could be used to legalize same-sex marriage.

Fox News: The Chilean Senate has rejected three bills that would have eased the country’s absolute ban on abortions.

AP: The U.N. human rights office is urging Chile to pass new laws against hate crimes and discrimination after the killing of a young gay man . . .

AP: The case has prompted a national debate in Chile over hate crimes . . .

LifeSiteNews: The article, entitled “My commitment to life,” (read an English translation here) outlines Piñera’s four principal reasons for opposing abortion, which include the personhood of the fetus, legal and practical considerations, and his religious convictions.

AP report.

LifeNews: The Chilean parliament is currently considering an amendment to the Penal Code that would legalise therapeutic abortion in a country widely acknowledged as having amongst the most stringent abortion laws in the world. It is unlikely to go through

ADF Attorney Benjamin Bull Townhall : While we sit in our soft chairs watching big screen TVs and complaining that microwave popcorn takes too long to cook, activists backing the homosexual agenda relentlessly march on. Availing themselves of avenues that are notably left of center, both culturally and politically, they incrementally pursue and secure special treatment under the guise of “rights” and “equality.” And while we’ve seen this happen at many levels of government—both state and national—we err greatly if we fail to see the inroads being made on an international level as well.

LifeSiteNews.com: The court, which is the nation’s highest authority on constitutional matters, voted 9-1 on Nov. 3rd against the suit challenging the constitutionality of Chile’s Civil Code, which recognizes marriage as the union of “a man and a woman.”

NCRegister.com: “I believe the intent here is to fabricate an illegitimate transnationalist jurisprudence to alter the essential foundations of Chilean society — family and marriage,” Bishop Juan Ignacio González Errazuriz of San Bernardo, Chile, told the Register via email. “This is undoubtedly a very grave concern.” Bishop González’s concerns about the Atala case are shared by the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based legal organization dedicated to protection of religious freedom, the sanctity of life and marriage and the family. The commission’s decision contained four fundamental flaws, according to a legal brief the ADF submitted last month to the Inter-American Court.

NCRegister.com: But Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Piero Tozzi, who is also a senior fellow with the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), cautions that international human-rights decisions have been cited as precedents by U.S. courts. A notable example was the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling striking down Texas’s anti-sodomy law. Noted Tozzi, “What happens abroad impacts the U.S.”

LifeSiteNews.com: Chilean president Sebastian Piñera has declared his intention to veto legislation to legalize “therapeutic abortion” that is currently advancing in the Chilean Senate, according to the leader of Piñera’s party.

Spero News: The IACHR concluded Chile’s courts impermissibly violated the American Convention on Human Rights by denying Atala custody because of her “sexual orientation.” The commission’s non-binding decision is now before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has authority under the American Convention on Human Rights to issue binding rulings. On Sept. 8, the Alliance Defense Fund submitted a carefully-researched amicus legal brief to the Court detailing four fundamental flaws in the IACHR’s findings. [ADF brief quoted]

LifeNews.com: Legislators in Chile’s Senate Health Commission have opened the door towards legalizing abortion in a country where abortion is illegal without exception.

AP: Chile’s conservative president proposed civil unions legislation Tuesday that would give unmarried partners many of the rights now enjoyed only by married couples in the South American nation.

AP: Student protesters who have snarled Chile’s universities and high schools with weeks of strikes and demonstrations called Monday for a national referendum on their demand for free and high-quality education.

LifeSiteNews.com: Chile’s president Sebastian Piñera, who bills himself as a social conservative and is known for his defense of the right to life, is preparing to introduce a bill in the nation’s congress instituting “civil unions” for homosexual couples, according to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, which says that it has seen a recent draft of the legislation.

LifeSiteNews.com: The cardinal called homosexual unions “unacceptable” and noted that “Saint Paul says that those who participate in sodomy will not see the kingdom of God. Nothing stronger than that can be said.”

CBN (includes video): Every innocent life deserves to be protected, and every pregnant mother should receive the help she needs to care for that life,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Piero Tozzi said at the 2011 Meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York City. “We couldn’t be more pleased to present this honor to the people of Chile for their painstaking and diligent efforts to help pregnant women and protect their preborn children,” he continued. [more quotes by Piero Tozzi]

CNA: “President of Chile Sebastian Pinera,said March 2 that human rights, especially the right to life from conception to natural death, must be protected in order to achieve comprehensive human development.”

LifeNews: Every innocent life deserves to be protected, and every pregnant mother should receive the help she needs to care for that life,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Piero Tozzi.  “We couldn’t be more pleased to present this honor to the people of Chile for their painstaking and diligent efforts to help pregnant women and protect their preborn children. Those efforts are based on constitutional protections that serve as a model to the rest of the world.”

Chile boasts lowest maternal mortality rate in Latin America due to vigorous efforts to help mothers, protect preborn children

LifeSiteNews: “Chile’s Constitutional Tribunal, which is the nation’s highest tribunal for constitutional issues, has agreed to decide on a suit alleging that “marriage” between two people of the same sex is a constitutional right.”

LifeNews: “According to the Catholic News Agency, the bishops released a statement on December 28 through the Bishops’ Conference of Chile saying there is never a justification for an abortion and that it is never medically necessary for women.”

LifeSiteNews: “Chilean President Sebastián Piñera is urging his ministers to stand firm in their defense of pro-life values as the nation’s congress confronts two new legislative proposals to decriminalize the killing of unborn children.”

Bay Windows: “Following a referral from the Santiago Court of Appeals, Chile’s Constitutional Court will take up a same-sex marriage case this week.”

Matthew Hoffman writing at LifeSiteNews: “The ‘culture of death’ — Pope John Paul II’s term for the international pro-abortion and anti-family movement, is now winning serious victories in Latin America. After decades of failure, the efforts of big international abortionist organizations and their well-financed proxies are increasingly converting ruling elites to their pro-death position.”

Associated Press: “Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet is the front-runner to head the new U.N. agency to promote women’s equality, several U.N. officials said.”

Catholic News Agency: “This week, Auxiliary Bishop Fernando Chomali of Santiago spoke up in defense of marriage and remarked that all laws must be founded in reason, according to the truth about man.”

Brandon Sun: “Two leftist senators introduced a bill to legalize gay marriage Tuesday, drawing predictions from colleagues on both the left and right that the measure has little chance of approval in conservative Chile.”

Reuters: “The head of Chile’s Socialist party, Fulvio Rossi, told reporters on Sunday that he planned to sponsor a bill to legalize gay marriage in the country, as occurred last month in neighboring Argentina.”

The Pulse: “A Chilean couple is acting fast after hearing that the Argentinian government approved gay marriage this past Thursday. Already they have called the Civil Registry of Mendoza, Chile’s neighboring city, to inquire about marriage procedures.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Chilean Chamber of Deputies has issued a ringing condemnation of Spain’s new abortion law, which removes all penalties for abortions up to the 14th week of gestation and permits adolescent girls to obtain abortions without their parents’ consent.”

Buenos Aires Herald: “The majority of citizens in Nicaragua (81.6 percent), Brazil (72.7percent), Mexico (70.8 percent), and Chile (66.2 percent) are opposed to legalizing abortion in their countries, where it is prohibited in almost all its forms, according to a survey by Flacso.”

Amnesty International: “Amnesty International has expressed great disappointment at the Nicaragua government’s decision to reject the recommendations made by 12 States urging a change to the country’s law imposing a total ban on abortion . . . Currently only four countries in the world have a complete ban on abortion: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile and Malta.” | More from the European Life Network’s Pat Buckley and SPUC director John Smeaton.

The Santiago Times: “Students of all sexual orientation need to know they are not alone, say activists who came together for Chile’s first forum on education and sexual diversity. The forum was held Wednesday afternoon at the National Library in Santiago for teachers, secondary school and university students, and was sponsored by Chile’s gay rights group, MOVILH.”

Santiago Times: “Six years after judge Karen Atala lost the custody of her three daughters, the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ruled in her favor, proclaiming the Chilean Supreme Court had been biased in her case because she is a lesbian . . . The IACHR recommended Chile change some of its laws and public policies so discrimination based on sexual orientation could be eliminated.”

Catholic News Agency: “Eighty percent of religious sites in the Chilean regions hit by last month’s earthquake are in desperate need of repair, according to a report prepared by the Office of Statistics for the bishops’ conference of Chile. The prelates note that some $260 million will be needed for reconstruction efforts.”

LifeNews: “Preliminary findings by a prominent biomedical researcher examining the dramatic decrease in maternal mortality, over the past fifty years in the Latin American nation of Chile, appear to undercut claims by global abortion lobbyists that liberal abortion laws are necessary to reduce maternal mortality rates.”

Catholic News Agency: “Responding to a call by Archbishop Cristian Caro of Puerto Montt in Chile, numerous family organizations are urging a campaign to halt the distribution of pro-homosexual material in public schools.”

How Appealing carries this article by Lawrence Hurley writing at the Daily Journal “Tackling a sensitive question of international law, the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh this week whether a child brought unlawfully to the United States by his mother must be returned to Chile, where the father lives . . . [pursuant to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction] Abbott v. Abbott, 08-645.”

National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education: “As school choice and privatization schemes increase in popularity, the effects of different forms of school sponsorship on student performance are increasingly a subject of debate among policymakers and scholars. One view is that the necessity of making a profit may motivate for-profit firms to make efficient decisions that will translate into better managed schools and ultimately into higher student achievement. Another perspective is that non-profits are socially mission-driven and may provide a greater focus on serving disadvantaged families with the greater costs of educational investments needed by these children. Using Chile as a case study, Gregory Elacqua weighs the evidence supporting these theories.”

Angus Reid Global Monitor: “Adults in Chile are split on the topic of pregnancy termination, according to a poll by Ipsos, 46.9 per cent of respondents are opposed to abortion, while 39.1 per cent would allow it in some cases.”

Businessman Sebastián Piñera is currently a strong contender in the next race for Chile’s presidency, according to a poll by La Tercera. 35 per cent of respondents would vote for the member of the conservative National Renewal (RN) in next year’s ballot.

A group called the Insurrectionalist Federation has claimed responsibility for an attack on the University of Los Andes in Santiago, Chile in which a homemade explosive device was detonated in one of the bathrooms.

From the Feminist Daily News Wire: Hundreds of Chileans announced that they will leave the Catholic Church on April 29, in protest of the Vatican involvement with a court’s anti-contraception ruling. Chile’s Constitutional Court outlawed President Michelle Bachelet‘s free emergency …