Chilean president Michele Bachelet announced in May that legislation to decriminalize abortion would be in place by the end of the year, according to the Chilean newspaper La Segunda. The law reform would make abortion legal in cases of rape, fatal fetal abnormality and risk to the life of the woman. This would be a significant change for Chile, where abortion is illegal in all circumstances. In November, Vice President Rodrigo Peñailillo told Chile’s La Nación that other issues had taken priority for the executive branch and “we will decide the right moment in which to push forward” a new abortion policy.

In response, Senator Guido Girardi and Senator Fulvio Rossi told the Chilean news website Emol that they planned to reinitiate parliamentary discussion of the abortion issue because “as part of a state power, we cannot continue to permit that women’s essential rights are violated.” CNN Chile later reported that President Bachelet’s administration promised to present its project for abortion decriminalization before January 31.

After President Bachelet opened up the subject of abortion to a “mature” discussion last year, the Chilean Bishops’ Conference reported that Fernando Chomali, archbishop of Concepción, responded with a 22-page pastoral letter directed to “believers and nonbelievers” claiming that the proposed law would be “unnecessary” and “harmful” for the country. According to a poll conducted this July by the Centro de Estudios Públicos, more than 70 percent of participants were in favor of decriminalizing abortion in the three proposed circumstances.