
CHILE
A FOCUS ON
Sexual Health and Reproductive Justice in Chile
Thank you for joining us on this journey through Latin America and the Caribbean to explore experiences and reflections around sexual health and reproductive justice.
In this stop, we hear from Carlos Miguel Lobos Vega (Fundación Chile Positivo), Jaime Ignacio Romaní Adorni, Natalia Guerrero Fernández (Escuela Transdisciplinaria de Sexualidad, Chile Necesita ESI), and Laura Dragnic, who share their experiences from Chile.
Habla LAC (LAC SPEAKS) is a series that amplifies the voices of activists, professionals, and organizations working to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. At a time of uncertainty for the global SRHR community, and with the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) taking place in Latin America for the first time, this series seeks to spotlight the region’s learnings, resistance, and innovations that can enrich global conversations and help build more just and sustainable futures.
UPHELD BY THE COMMUNITY:
SRHR STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES IN CHILE
In Chile, the work around SRHR and family planning faces multiple barriers deeply rooted in legal, cultural, and economic structures. In a country where access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare remains inequitable, the introduction of a bill in June 2025 to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks represents a hard-won step forward. But meaningful change, as many on the ground affirm, continues to depend on the strength of community organizing and public pressure.
Carlos Miguel Lobos Vega, president of Fundación Chile Positivo, an organization dedicated to HIV prevention and the promotion of sexual rights, warns that the lack of a comprehensive sexuality education law continues to shape the national agenda. The current regulation, Law 20.418, “contributes to misinformation and perpetuates myths, especially affecting adolescents and young people.” According to Carlos, even in schools where sexuality education is offered, it is done superficially and without a rights-based approach.
From another front, Natalia Guerrero Fernández leads the Transdisciplinary School of Sexuality and the Chile Needs CSE Foundation, both focused on promoting inclusive, critical, and comprehensive sexuality education. Natalia highlights how Chile's colonial legacy continues to fuel structural discrimination, particularly against Indigenous communities and racialized people. In this context, she points out that the lack of international funding has not come as a surprise to advocates: “For decades, social movements have received little or no funding and have relied on the individual commitment of specific people to keep going.”
This reality has nurtured a culture of agile, often informal but highly effective, community-based responses. “In Chile, spontaneous community networks work very well… like the women-led projects that provide phone support to people who want to have an abortion with pills at home, to avoid the legal consequences,” Natalia explains. These support networks arise in part due to the absence of the state, but also from a longstanding tradition of solidarity in response to natural disasters and social crises, deeply tied to a sense of collective belonging.
Jaime Ignacio Romaní Adorni, a sociologist with experience in public health and sexual diversity policies in both Chile and Europe, points to a challenge within the SRHR field itself: “We have many organizations addressing similar problems, working with the same communities… and competing with each other for public funding from the state.” This fragmentation, he says, weakens collective impact and limits the territorial reach of efforts. Jaime also notes that while it is understandable that much of the work in family planning has focused on women, given the numerous barriers they face in accessing services, failing to also address the needs of men—or of other communities such as women living with HIV—perpetuates inequities and leaves serious gaps in care. He sees part of the issue in the makeup of organizational teams: “If my teams are mostly made up of women, it’s hard to know what men’s needs or concerns are, unless I work directly with those communities.” For Jaime, more diverse and representative teams are essential to expand the reach and relevance of SRHR work.
Laura Dragnic, a lawyer specializing in global health and human rights, focuses on reproductive rights and the urgent need to move toward full legalization of abortion. Although Law 21.030 marked progress by permitting abortion under three circumstances, Laura argues that its implementation “remains insufficient [due to] a lack of training among health personnel, limited public awareness, and the abusive use of conscientious objection”, that is, the refusal by healthcare providers to perform legal abortions based on personal or religious beliefs. In a landmark shift, the Chilean government announced in June 2025 a new bill to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, a move many see as the result of sustained feminist advocacy and a long-overdue recognition of abortion as a matter of public health and human rights. Laura also emphasizes that Chile’s current “birth rate crisis” cannot be solved through isolated incentives, but rather through structural policies such as a national care system and equitable parental leave that allows for real shared caregiving responsibilities.
Despite setbacks observed in many parts of the world, there are reasons to stay hopeful in Chile. Carlos underscores the need for a shift in approach: “We need to change the focus and educate with a positive approach to sexuality, including the topic of pleasure and people’s sexual rights.” In the same spirit, Jaime points out that “scientific evidence has shown that fear- and risk-based approaches are far less effective…while those grounded in positive and pleasure-based messaging have a much greater impact.”
Across the country, amid political tensions and ongoing inequalities, those working in SRHR continue to build safe, creative, and sustainable spaces. In their daily resistance and efforts to transform public narratives, a concrete hope emerges: that of a society where dignity, care, and autonomy are placed at the heart of sexual and reproductive health.







