Latin America’s conservative comeback powers pro-life push at UN

(NRL News Today) I first walked into the United Nations in 1993 during the preparatory meetings for the Beijing Conference on Women. On my first day, Bella Abzug had me kicked out of a negotiating room for lobbying the Argentine delegation. I wasn’t dissuaded, mostly because I didn’t know who she was, and spent three weeks walking those putty-colored halls during nearly nonstop negotiations.

I worked long hours, learned quickly, and built lasting friendships with many of the Latin American delegates. Back then, they were the backbone of the pro-life coalition. Representatives from Chile, Ecuador, and Honduras didn’t need persuasion; they spoke with clarity about the right to life, the dignity of the unborn, and their nations’ duty to defend both.

But everything changed in the early 2000s. One by one, leftist governments took power across the region, and with them came a flood of delegates who echoed the talking points of international abortion profiteers like IPPF and IPAS. The same countries that once championed life began pushing resolutions that undermined it. We went from majority support to near isolation in just a few years.

Today, that trend is reversing. The momentum has shifted. And Amen to that. Here is what has happened this year:

• On December 10, 2025, José Antonio Kast won Chile’s presidency with nearly 58% of the vote. His victory didn’t just reflect frustration with crime and illegal immigration. It signaled a clear rejection of radical social engineering. Voters chose security, tradition, and national identity over the chaos of a failed left-wing experiment. Kast, a devout Catholic and consistent pro-lifer, now leads Chile’s most conservative government since the 1980s. His administration will bring new life to the UN delegation and reinforce the message that Latin America still believes in protecting the unborn at the Organization of American States.

• Ecuadorians headed to the polls earlier in 2025 and gave President Daniel Noboa a second term. His campaign crushed leftist Luisa González, who was backed by Rafael Correa, the failed socialist/communist pro-abortion former president. Noboa, known for his tough-on-crime reforms and technocratic efficiency, ran on a platform of stability and order. While not as outspoken as Kast, Noboa’s campaign defended national sovereignty. With him in office, Ecuador remains a reliable pro-life ally in global forums.

• In Argentina, President Javier Milei’s libertarian coalition faced a major test during the October 2025 midterms. The elections showed that a sizable segment of the country supports his vision of national revival. Milei’s views on life aren’t always front and center, but he’s appointed health officials who reject the excesses of abortion-on-demand policies pushed under previous administrations. If his coalition holds, Argentina could begin unwinding the radical abortion law passed in 2020.

• In August 2025, Bolivians headed to the polls and broke with nearly 20 years of rule by the Movement for Socialism (MAS). The party, once led by Evo Morales and later by Luis Arce, had repeatedly tried to erode Bolivia’s legal protections for unborn children. The communist Morales gave Pope Francis a crucifix incorporating a hammer and sickle in 2015, during the Pope’s visit to Bolivia, and two years later in 2017, MAS lawmakers pushed legislation to allow abortion for broad social and economic reasons. Public backlash forced the repeal of that law in early 2018. During Arce’s presidency, MAS members continued to align with international groups that promote abortion as a human right, though they failed to advance new legislation. In the 2025 elections, a center-right coalition won on a platform that included support for Bolivia’s constitutional protection of life from conception. This result shifts Bolivia’s posture at the UN and OAS, where its new delegates are expected to speak clearly for the unborn.

• Then there’s El Salvador. President Nayib Bukele continues to defy international pressure without blinking. When the Inter-American Court of Human Rights chastised his government for refusing to legalize abortion, Bukele didn’t flinch. He made no apologies and no concessions. His message to the global abortion lobby was simple: El Salvador protects life. Period. And after winning reelection in a historic landslide in 2024, he has the political capital to keep doing it.

When pro-life governments take power, they send pro-life ambassadors. That changes everything. Delegates set the tone in negotiations. They challenge language, block radical proposals, and speak up when it counts. Over the last year, we’ve seen those changes take root again. The halls of the UN are no longer one-sided echo chambers. Latin America’s conservative resurgence is restoring balance.

What happens in Santiago, Quito, Buenos Aires, La Paz, and San Salvador doesn’t stay there. It reverberates through New York and Geneva. It shapes resolutions, redefines norms, and helps protect the unborn on a global scale.

We’ve been here before. We remember what it looks like when Latin America leads. And now, after years of silence, we can say it again: they’re back.