The Hill: Chile legalizes abortion, but rightly rejects Roe v. Wade logic
Clarke D. Forsythe, senior counsel at Americans United for Life

“This summer, Chile legalized abortion for the first time since 1989. The legislation, slated to take effect in January 2018, legalizes abortion in cases of ‘risk to the mother’s life,’ ‘fetal malformation incompatible with life,’ and rape. The scope of these conditions — how they will be applied — remains to be seen. A case testing the constitutionality of the legislation was filed in the Constitutional Tribunal of Chile … A majority of the judges refused to create a constitutional right to abortion that would be immune from legislative limits or correction. … By refusing to broaden the legislature’s legalization of abortion in Chile, the Tribunal may avoid some of the unintended or unanticipated consequences that have flowed from the Supreme Court’s broad legalization of abortion in the U.S. … Abortion is typically marketed as a snapshot — the immediate aftermath — when the reality can only be captured like a video, what led to the abortion decision and the long-term impact on physical health, mental health, and relationships. Chile will have to closely examine the video to get a realistic understanding of what it has unleashed” (9/8).