Chile’s Constitution Defeat a Win for Basic Sanity

In yesterday’s referendum, 62 percent of Chilean voters opposed the proposal for a new, far-left constitution, delivering a resounding defeat to the leftist political forces — including Chile’s 36-year-old president, Gabriel Boric — that had been working to scrap the South American nation’s old constitution since 2019. The New York Times reports:

Of course, concerns from Chileans — a majority-pro-life electorate — about issues such as the new constitution’s legalization of late-term abortion were entirely reasonable. As it stands today, abortion is only legal in Chile if the mother’s life is at risk, if the baby wouldn’t survive outside the womb, or during the first twelve weeks if the pregnancy is the result of rape. (And those relatively narrow exceptions were only implemented in 2017 — before that, all abortions, no matter the reason, were banned.) The new constitution would have enshrined a total right to abortion at the national level, mandating that “women and all those capable of bearing children should be guaranteed the proper conditions for a pregnancy and the right to voluntarily interrupt any pregnancy.”

About the Author

Nate Hochman

Nate Hochman was a staff writer at National Review.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Constitution

South America

In yesterday’s referendum, 62 percent of Chilean voters opposed the proposal for a new, far-left constitution, delivering a resounding defeat to the leftist political forces — including Chile’s 36-year-old president, Gabriel Boric — that had been working to scrap the South American nation’s old constitution since 2019. The New York Times reports:

Of course, concerns from Chileans — a majority-pro-life electorate — about issues such as the new constitution’s legalization of late-term abortion were entirely reasonable. As it stands today, abortion is only legal in Chile if the mother’s life is at risk, if the baby wouldn’t survive outside the womb, or during the first twelve weeks if the pregnancy is the result of rape. (And those relatively narrow exceptions were only implemented in 2017 — before that, all abortions, no matter the reason, were banned.) The new constitution would have enshrined a total right to abortion at the national level, mandating that “women and all those capable of bearing children should be guaranteed the proper conditions for a pregnancy and the right to voluntarily interrupt any pregnancy.”