New York Times profiles work of abortion hotline in Chile

The New York Times profiles the Safe Abortion Hot Line in Chile, where abortion has been entirely illegal since 1989. Thirty volunteers throughout Chile operate the telephone hotline, which takes "tense calls from women seeking information about abortion every evening from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.," the newspaper writes, adding the volunteers have taken "more than 12,000 calls so far, and they continue rolling in at a steady clip." The newspaper examines the history of abortion laws in Chile and several other countries in South America; says the country's Ministry of Women began its own hotline to "answer calls from men or women looking for information or support when facing what the ministry calls an 'abortion situation' or 'post-abortion syndrome'"; describes how the drug misoprostol, which "was taken off pharmacy shelves in Chile under Michelle Bachelet, the former president," who now heads U.N. Women, is used for safe medical abortions; and discusses the establishment of abortion hotlines in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela by the group Women on Waves (Nelsen, 1/3).