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Original article: El proyecto antiaborto tiene apellido político: Urruticoechea, los Kaiser y una mochila de cuestionamientos éticos

The controversial anti-abortion bill proposed by the far-right is closely linked to political ties: its main proponent, Cristóbal Urruticoechea, a deputy of the National Libertarian Party (PNL), has been married since February to Senator Vanessa Kaiser, sister of Johannes and Axel Kaiser.

The initiative titled «Listen to His Heart» requires women to hear fetal heartbeats before obtaining an abortion. This proposal was introduced on June 7 by Urruticoechea along with deputies Chiara Barchiesi (Republican Party), Catalina del Real (Republican Party), Álvaro Jofré (National Libertarian Party), Claudia Reyes (Republican Party), and Ximena Ossandón (Renewal National), who later withdrew her signature, admitting it was a “mistake” to endorse it.

The goal is to amend Article 119 of the Sanitary Code, specifically the informed consent procedure that doctors must follow before performing an abortion. This amendment stipulates that the medical professional is required to offer “verbally and directly the opportunity to listen to the heartbeat using electronic instruments, along with an objective description of it, to every woman seeking a legal abortion under the three existing grounds: maternal life risk, lethal fetal inviability, or pregnancy resulting from rape.

Although the text specifies that a patient can decline to hear the heartbeat, the doctor must refuse to perform the procedure if she does not comply, which has been considered an act of obstetric violence and re-victimization of women and girls.

“The mother is free to say: ‘No, I don’t want to hear it’, but what happens in this case is that the doctor will not perform the abortion,” says Cristóbal Urruticoechea, as reported by The Clinic.

The anti-abortion project from the Chilean far-right mirrors policies implemented by Viktor Orbán’s government in Hungary, where it was mandated by decree in September 2022 that fetal heartbeats must be heard before any abortion.

Controversy Background

Although he is currently the leader of the National Libertarians—the party he joined in December 2024—Urruticoechea has been affiliated with various right-wing political parties throughout his career. His journey includes the UDI (until 2012), transitioning to RN in October 2020, and joining the Republican Party in August 2021, from which he resigned in April 2024.

Throughout his political career, he has accumulated a history filled with questionable episodes preceding his current project. In 2022, his comments regarding raped women who have abortions sparked outrage when he claimed that they are «not physically or morally defiled,» a statement that nearly led him to the Ethics Committee. His political trajectory has been defined by a staunch opposition to abortion, describing the three current legal grounds as «turning crime into law.»

Concerns surrounding the deputy extend to various aspects of his public performance. In 2020, he circulated a false image that purportedly showed a so-called “Vietnamese trap” set by the Arauco Malleco Coordinator (CAM) against Carabineros, which turned out to be from a Spanish stock photo with no connection to the Mapuche reality. His misuse of Congressional fuel cards by his then-partner Tamara Küpfer and a son of the deputy, with 38 fuel charges paid with public funds, brought him once again to the Ethics Committee and the Valparaíso Prosecutor’s Office, only returning $7 million in May 2024.

Even during a legislative session, he was caught with Chiara Barchiesi rewinding a video to watch the trailer for the movie «Joker: Folie à Deux,” which again led him to the Ethics Committee.

Anti-Abortion Crusade

Urruticoechea does not hide his ultimate goal: the complete repeal of abortion in Chile. His statements prior to the introduction of the new project reveal that this initiative is part of a crusade against the three legal grounds, arguing that “there are multiple ways to save the life conceived within a woman’s womb who has been raped” and that “the innocent is life.” The proposal «Listen to His Heart» essentially attempts to subvert existing law by using a mechanism that, according to critics, constitutes a form of psychological torture for women in extreme vulnerability, backed by a political family clan from the National Libertarian Party seeking to impose their vision on the rights of Chilean women.

La entrada Political Undertones of the Anti-Abortion Bill: Urruticoechea, the Kaisers, and Ethical Concerns se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.