Safe Abortion Hotline Launched in Santiago!

Today, Red Mujeres Chile launched the hotline "Aborto: Información Segura", marking the International Day of Action for Women's Health. The lauch took place in the Plaza Constitución, in the center of Santiago, Chile. The hotline will give information about the safe and effective use of Misoprostol to provoke an abortion. In the past weeks, members of the network have been trained in-depth about the use of Misoprostol, and have been working out legal strategies and expanding their support-network to make the hotline as effective as possible.

A press conference was called for 13:30, when a national seminar on gender would be breaking for mid-day. The idea was to take advantage of the seminar, in which abortion was barely mentioned, to highlight that even today abortion is not a topic of discussion in Chilean politics though Chile has one of the highest abortion rates in Latin America.

The activists marched with the banner from the seminar to the Plaza Constitución, located just outside of the main govermental building, La Moneda. Many activists also wore tshirts bearing the hotline number. A spokeswoman read the declaration, pointing out that the information women need in order to carry out their reproductive choices is widely available internationally and needs to be put into the hands of women.

The event was covered by a wide range of national and international press, from television, radio, and print media. Interested women also approached the organizers wanting to get involved in supporting the initiative.

The same day, grafitti bearing the hotline number appeared in Santiago, Concepcion, and Temuco.

By the end of the day, women were already calling the hotline!