Milagros Aguayo is one of the most influential women in Peruvian politics. She is also a champion of policies that defend the right to life and family. This automatically makes her one of the most hated women by radical left-wing groups in the country.

Aguayo is well-versed in grassroots civil society work. Since 2006, she and her husband — with whom she has co-authored several books — have pastored and led community initiatives, such as Casa del Padre, a shelter for girls who have suffered sexual violence. She is also the founder of the Save the Family Movement and the Center for Family Development, which has been replicated in countries throughout Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

In 2021, her public life took a turn when she was elected to Congress. With more than 63,000 votes, she became one of the most voted-for women in the bicentennial of the Peruvian parliament.

Within the legislative structure, her influence has continued to grow. Today, she chairs the Committee on Women and Family and is a member of committees such as Social Inclusion and Vulnerable Populations, Health and Population, Education, Youth and Sports, and Justice and Human Rights.

In each of these committees, she has successfully introduced, along with other legislators, topics that woke ideology considered dead; and she has been restoring the pride of Hispanic, Christian America, which revolves around the rich history and culture of the West.

And now Aguayo is setting her sights on the Peruvian General Elections on April 12th. At that time, the president, vice presidents, senators, and representatives of the Congress of the Republic and the Andean Parliament will be elected.

Here is my interview with Milagros.

Why and how did you make the leap into politics? What challenges did you encounter on this path as a woman coming from the realm of faith, and what practical strengths (communication, leadership, etc.) do you believe you brought with you from the ecclesial world?

I see politics as a missionary field. I ventured into this field knowing how difficult it is for a Christian to participate in politics in Peru; there are many challenges, both from progressive organizations that seek to destroy our principles and values, and from some people who believe that Christians should not participate in politics in our country.

My entry into politics came at the invitation of the President of the Popular Renewal Party, Rafael López Aliaga. He shares our pro-life and pro-family principles and allowed us to work on these issues and, in addition, to fight for the most vulnerable people in our country.

Politics is a very challenging field. It constantly presents you with problems to solve, problems that we must resolve to achieve our agenda in defense of life, family, and the most vulnerable. To navigate this path, it is necessary to have strong convictions in what you believe, but above all, a lot of faith to achieve results that we thought were unthinkable.

Certainly, communication and leadership skills associated with my experience as a pastor help to some extent. But there are other additional skills that I have had to develop while performing my duties, such as tolerance, the ability to negotiate, and surrounding myself with people who can help me in my mission.

In 2023, you assumed the presidency of the Women and Family Commission. What potential does this political space have to help family and marriage institutions and reverse problems for national security such as the decline in the birth rate?

The presidency of the Women and Family Commission is a very important space to promote the family. From there, we have approved Law 32426, which promotes a Transversal Family Approach in all public policies in Peru, and strengthens the family as the cornerstone of social development.

This means that every solution proposed to public problems will be analyzed from the perspective of its impact on the family, and how it would strengthen the family in our society. This definitely includes marriage.

The Women and Family Commission was usually chaired by left-wing congresswomen, who projected their progressive policies through this space. The fact that the Commission is now in the hands of the Popular Renewal Party means that this body can regain its senses and reverse policies that have been implemented for years against life and family.

In short, the Commission is of utmost importance for the pro-life and pro-family movement in our country.

How complex is it to legislate from a conservative perspective in Peru today? What specific challenges do you and your colleagues face in doing so?

By its very nature, being a Christian in a society like Peru’s is difficult, and it is even more difficult to try to legislate from a conservative perspective in our country.

There are many interests, mainly from non-governmental organizations funded from abroad, that have been trying to implement their progressive agendas in our country for a long time.

Every reform proposal with a conservative perspective is attacked by both non-governmental organizations and their strategic partners in academia and even in some media outlets.

The main challenge is to enact laws that protect our society, and to do so under attacks that often seek not only to discredit the proposal, but also to attack the proponent and even their own team.

Law 31975, which you authored, guarantees that all live-born children have access to timely evaluations within the health system. Could you tell us what problems you encountered in your country that made this law necessary?

In Peru, preventive newborn screening is limited to three neonatal evaluations, while in developed countries like Japan, up to 20 evaluations are performed on newborns.

The more we evaluate the health of newborns, the greater the opportunity we will have to detect diseases in their early stages and improve the prospects for successful treatment.

What is Law 31633? Why is it important in the Peruvian context? How do you expect it to help families and mothers?

Law 31633 allows for the establishment of at least one human milk bank in each region of our country. This increases the chances of survival for newborns whose mothers cannot produce milk for various reasons.

It is especially helpful for premature babies, who normally require immediate feeding with breast milk, and it takes advantage of the fact that some mothers produce enough milk for their child and some extra to donate to other newborns who need it.

What public policies would you highlight among those that you have successfully passed as part of the national legislative body?

We have many achievements to show during this legislative period.

With Law 32535, we eliminated gender ideology in Peru, and gender training for judges and prosecutors; we replaced the national gender policy with a policy of equal opportunities, and we replaced Comprehensive Sexuality Education with a scientific, biological, and ethical education. Other initiatives range from recognizing for the first time the rights of the unborn child (Law 31935), and addressing gestational and neonatal grief while guaranteeing specialized medical care (Law 32132); to protecting premature newborns with specialized care within the health system from their first day outside the mother’s womb (Law 31856).

We have also made an impact in the national education sector. We regulated the use of cell phones during classes in schools to improve concentration, academic performance, and prevent cyberbullying (Law 32385); and we eliminated the incorrect use of “inclusive language” in school textbooks and all state public documents (Law 32003).

Through Law 32017, for example, we reduced the length of time children spend in shelters and streamlined adoptions so that more children can grow up in a family. Law 32228 incorporated the principle of orality in family proceedings, and thanks to this, processes that used to last two to four years will now be resolved much faster. Through Law 31994, we prohibited the placement of abandoned children and adolescents in shelters that do not have state accreditation.

In the case of Peruvians with special needs, we guaranteed access to education with a minimum of two vacancies per classroom for students with disabilities (Law 32289). We included people with disabilities in the Amber Alert — the emergency mechanism and mass dissemination system for the immediate location of children, adolescents, and women who are victims of violence — activating their immediate search without age limits (Law 32305). And we created the National Autism Center, guaranteeing care, research, and protection for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families throughout the country (Law 32382).