El Ciudadano
Original article: El proyecto de ley de nacional ´libertarios´ que legaliza la tortura psicológica
By Janet Noseda
A new bill from the Libertarian National Party and Republicans has emerged, aiming to legally authorize psychological torture of pregnant women. The bill, titled «Listen to Their Heart,» would mandate that pregnant women facing fetal or maternal inviolability, or those who are victims of rape, must listen to the fetal heartbeat before proceeding with an abortion.
This legislation essentially legalizes psychological torture, as the reason for compelling them to hear the heartbeat is to elicit an emotional response: to force those girls or women to give birth. This bill aims to restrict therapeutic abortion in Chile by manipulating the mother, coercing them into rejecting the procedure. They fail to understand the trauma of needing an abortion because the child will not survive, the mother may face life-threatening conditions, or worse, the pregnancy resulted from an act of incest.
Legislators should be aware of the alarming statistics surrounding abortions due to rape: a significant majority involve girls aged 10 to 13, victims of familial abuse, often perpetrated by their own fathers. The anguish these children and women face leads to lifelong trauma. The consequences of torture are well-known: psychological harm.
This bill is appalling, yet even more shocking is its approval by the Health Commission of the Congress. This raises the alarming question, «Can any bill be presented, even if it’s a crime?» Torture in Chile is classified as such—a crime against humanity punishable by imprisonment.
During my collaboration with the Chilean College of Psychologists, we investigated therapeutic abortion as a third option, concluding that it predominantly affects children. The psychological trauma from sexual abuse and rape is so severe that victims resort to mental coping mechanisms used in torture sessions during wars, like counting multiplication tables or dissociating. Now, these girls will be forced to hear the fetal heartbeat or else face restrictions on aborting.
These legislators cannot claim to be pro-life; after childbirth, their focus shifts away from life and towards forcing childbirth, driven by a desire to impose their Catholic beliefs on the entire nation. This is the underlying motive, rooted in religious dogma. Science opposes such views, and psychology has much to contribute in this debate. Furthermore, regarding the other two circumstances, they merely inflict pain and distress without justification, knowing that either the mother or fetus will likely not survive. Why impose the agony of hearing a heartbeat on a woman when the fetus is nonviable? What is their end goal?
Regarding trauma and childbirth, lawmakers ignore the reality that during births resulting from rape, women and girls experience flashbacks of their abuse. It seems there was no investigation into what happens during such labors, the aftermath for the woman or girl, or the implications for the newborn and «the life of the unborn.» As a psychologist, I can affirm that not wanting to bond with the newborn is an indication of insecure or disorganized attachment, which lays the groundwork for psychotic personality development in that child. In Chile, there are more children in institutions like Mejor Niñez and Sename than in families; why not focus on the well-being of those already born instead of mandating all deliveries?
We cannot approve just any bill; legislation must respect human rights protections, which safeguard the physical and psychological integrity of all individuals.
By Janet Noseda
Psychologist
July 13, 2026.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of El Ciudadano.
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