Displaying uncommon bravery and dedication to women's rights, more than 200 Chilean women recently declared that they had undergone clandestine abortions and called for decriminalization of the procedure. Their bold action reflects growing worldwide recognition that denying women access to safe abortion to terminate unwanted pregnancies violates their human rights.

Since 1989, Chilean law has prohibited abortion under all circumstances - even to save the woman's life. Nevertheless, experts estimate that nearly 160,000 clandestine, usually unsafe abortions occur every year. Complications from these procedures are thought to be the leading cause of maternal mortality in Chile, which reports one of the highest abortion rates in Latin America.

On September 28 - observed annually throughout Latin America as the Day for Decriminalization of Abortion -- a group of women who work on different aspects of abortion went public as the Feminist Roundtable on Abortion in Chile. In a leading daily newspaper in the capital city of Santiago, they published an advertisement bearing the names of 230 women who had had abortions - all of whom knew they risked legal action.

The group also issued a declaration indicting "a hypocritical and insensitive society that places all possible barriers to prevent pregnancy but that often offers only discrimination and insults to women who become mothers, [especially] if they are young, poor or single." Members of the roundtable defended women's freedom to terminate unwanted pregnancy and demanded decriminalization of abortion, as well as "legal and institutional guarantees to practice elective abortion." They also urged authorities to increase women's ability to prevent unwanted pregnancy by making related information, education and services more widely available.

"The brave actions taken by women activists in Chile to highlight the human-rights violations of being forced to seek unsafe abortion should be applauded," said Ipas Policy Director Charlotte Hord Smith. "This kind of activism should generate progressive debate and action within Chile."

For more information:

• Comite de America Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer (The Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights - Peru)
• International Human Rights Day
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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