- Security
President Kast claimed that his government had inherited “one of the most serious security crises in Chile’s recent history” when he took office. He did not apportion all of the blame to his left-wing predecessor Gabriel Boric, however, saying the crisis extended back “well beyond just one government”.
It is against this backdrop that far-right parties submitted a motion - ‘Escucha su corazón’ (‘listen to your heart’) - in congress that would require pregnant mothers to listen to their unborn child’s heartbeat before deciding whether to go ahead with an abortion; should they change their minds as a result, their doctors would be required by law not to proceed.
Current Chilean law allows abortion in three types of cases: when there is a serious risk to the mother’s health; when the foetus is non-viable; and when the pregnancy is the product of rape. Opponents of the bill say that it is unnecessarily cruel, and that it will pointlessly force women to listen to the heartbeat of a foetus even when an abortion is unavoidable, re-victimising the mother in the process.
The bill has been drafted by a small group of members of congress from the Partido Republicano (PR), for which Kast ran for office, and from the extreme-right Partido Nacional Libertario (PNL). The PNL is outside of the ruling alliance, but the PR recently went on record as saying it has more in common with the party than its actual allies in the moderate right-wing Chile Vamos coalition. This created significant friction within the governing alliance.
The health minister, May Chomalí, a surgeon by profession, has stated bluntly that there is “no scientific evidence” to support the approach taken by the ‘Escucha su corazón’ bill. This led Deputy Cristóbal Urruticoechea, the leader of the PNL bloc in the lower chamber of congress who drafted the text of the bill, to question whether the government is interested in “saving lives”, as he put it, or seeking to “calm the implacable anger of the feminists”.
Kast, a Catholic with nine children who opposes abortion, has generally avoided discussing the issue. However, speaking on local radio this week, he said that his government was focused on improving the economy and public security, rather than supporting “measures that cause tensions”. He added that listening to a heartbeat was voluntary in other countries, while this motion sought to make it obligatory. He went on to say that while legislators were free to present legislative motions, his government would not be backing this one.
PNL deputy Paulina Muñoz said she “expected more of the president being a man of strong principles and values”. Urruticoechea, meanwhile, said his party’s objective was to reverse the “ideological destruction” of former president Gabriel Boric (2022-2026). But Kast clearly feels it
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