Opinion: Chile’s president insists on gender ideology and free abortion

By Daniela Carrasco*

(Opinion) One of Gabriel Boric’s campaign promises to be elected as president of Chile was that he would install feminist and gender guidelines in his government.

And little by little, he has fulfilled it.

Irina Karamanos, Boric’s partner, announced this Tuesday, Oct. 4, that the position of “first lady” has ended.

The Minister of Women’s Affairs, Antonia Orellana, said that the government would promote free abortion.

In this way, the Executive shows that it prefers to install an ideological agenda that does not manage to solve pending issues for women nor to attend to the real urgencies of Chileans.

A little more than a month ago, Chile strongly rejected the proposal for a new Constitution that enshrined feminist and gender guidelines.

For example, it established free abortion without restrictions and Integral Sexual Education.

Since this proposal did not prosper, members of the current government seek to continue with their agenda from the Executive.

Irina Karamanos, Gabriel Boric’s “polola” (girlfriend without commitment in Chilean slang), said during the presidential campaign period to a television program that she did not like the figure of “First Lady” and wanted to “reformulate it”.

Moreover, she said that she is “neither first nor lady”. However, she assumed the position last March, which generated criticism from the feminist world.

Then, during the year, a controversy occurred with Karamanos since it became known that the position of “first lady” was changed to “Cabinet of Irina Karamanos”, thus appearing in a state organization chart.

Likewise, it was verified that a web domain appeared with such a nomination on Mar. 11.

However, the government justified this change as an administrative error -among numerous other examples-.

Finally, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, Karamanos announced in a press conference that the figure of the First Lady, who has historically been in charge of coordinating foundations with philanthropic purposes, will be terminated.

Now, these six organizations will be organized according to the logic of sectoral ministries, i.e., depending on the theme, they will be arranged with the ministries that have the most affinity – between the Ministries of Education, Culture, or Women’s Affairs – which will appoint the presidents of the boards of directors of those foundations.

That is problematic because President Boric stated that his government would end “pitutos” – a term that refers to putting someone in a job position, without having merits or credentials, just for having a close relationship with the employer.

However, there have already been many scandals in which his friends have been paid political favors – the situation of ambassadors appointed without a diplomatic career is well known.

Therefore, the fact that people appointed by the ministries mentioned above direct each foundation opens the door to continue paying political favors.

IMPOSITION OF ABORTION WITHOUT LIMITATIONS

On the other hand, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Antonia Orellana, said last Sunday that the government is working on promoting abortion without grounds through a bill.

That would be justified because they have “a commitment as a government” to the “advancement of sexual and reproductive rights”.

Moreover, he pointed out that they not only seek to advance those supposed “rights” but do not want to go backward in the matter, referring to the initiative of opposition parliamentarians who seek to repeal abortion on three grounds, thus respecting the life of the unborn child.

In short, these almost seven months of the pro-amplista government have shown that, so far, they have not promoted initiatives or measures aimed at solving the real needs of the Chilean people.

Well, in the first place, if we talk mainly about the feminist guidelines and gender ideology on which the government is based, these do not help to solve pending issues for women, such as reducing the violence that a woman can suffer.

For example, they promote ideologically biased measures that do not understand why such situations occur.

Secondly, Chileans have seen their quality of life affected, with the increase in crime, drug trafficking, and violence associated with them; the depreciation of the Chilean peso and inflation, consequently, the increase in the cost of living; the insurrection in La Araucanía and the articulation of high school students by insurrectional groups; as well as the migratory crisis.

Given the above, repealing the position of the First Lady -opening spaces to negotiate political favors- or legislating for free abortion -which ignores the dignity of the human person- does not aim at solving these urgencies.

That is in addition to the fact that next Tuesday, Oct. 11, the vote, in particular, on the Tax Reform will begin, which seeks to collect 4.1% of the GDP, discouraging investment, savings, and, consequently, economic growth.

In short, Gabriel Boric’s government suffered from aggravated myopia when leading the country. Revealing that its ideas -substantiated in constant contradictions, conflicts, and agonisms- do not point to promising horizons.

* Chilean political scientist and candidate for a Master’s degree in Political Communication. Researcher at the Jaime Guzmán Foundation and university professor.

With information from Gaceta