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Highlights
- Professional-choice teams had been pushing for abortion to be utterly decriminalized in Colombia
- Earlier, Colombia allowed abortions solely when a girl’s life was at risk
- Earlier legislation allowed abortion provided that a fetus had malformations or a being pregnant resulted from rape
Colombia grew to become the newest nation in Latin America to increase entry to abortion Monday because the nation’s Constitutional Court docket voted to legalize the process till the twenty fourth week of being pregnant.
The choice by the tribunal of 9 judges fell in need of the expectations of pro-choice teams that had been pushing for abortion to be utterly decriminalized in Colombia. Nevertheless it was however described as a historic occasion by ladies’s rights teams, which estimate 400,000 ladies get clandestine abortions within the nation annually.
Earlier than the ruling, Colombia allowed abortions solely when a girl’s life was at risk, a fetus had malformations or the being pregnant resulted from rape.
Now ladies in Colombia will be capable to get abortions till the twenty fourth week of their being pregnant with out having to offer any justification. After the twenty fourth week of being pregnant, abortion will nonetheless face restrictions.
“We had been making an attempt to get the whole decriminalization of abortion … however that is nonetheless a historic step,” mentioned Cristina Rosero, a lawyer for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, an advocacy group that was considered one of 5 organizations that filed a lawsuit in 2020 to get the excessive court docket to evaluation Colombia’s abortions legal guidelines.
The lawsuit argued that restrictions on abortion discriminated in opposition to ladies from low-income areas for whom it was more durable to get authorized abortions as a result of they’d much less entry to docs, attorneys or psychologists who may assist them to show that finishing up pregnancies would put their well being in danger.
Rosero mentioned the modifications made to Colombian legislation will now make it simpler for folks of lower-income ranges to entry secure abortions.
“Our problem now’s to make sure that this ruling is carried out,” she mentioned.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba additionally enable abortions with out restrictions till sure levels of being pregnant, whereas in Mexico a supreme court docket ruling not too long ago mentioned that girls can’t be tried in court docket for terminating their pregnancies.
Latin America can be a area the place some international locations prohibit the termination of being pregnant with out exception, like in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.
In Colombia, the place a majority of the inhabitants identifies as Roman Catholic abortion has lengthy been a controversial concern. Judges met a number of instances to evaluation the lawsuit filed by ladies’s rights teams with out voting on it. In the meantime, pro-choice teams waving inexperienced flags, confronted off in opposition to pro-life protesters wearing blue.
Jonathan Silva, an activist for the pro-life group United for Life, mentioned he was shocked by Monday’s choice. “We don’t perceive how this occurred” he mentioned. “However we should stage protests, and name on members of Congress to manage abortion.”
A ballot carried out final yr in Colombia mentioned that 25% of individuals thought of abortion against the law, whereas 42% disagreed with that assertion. In Colombia, ladies who get unlawful abortions can resist three years in jail.
Additionally Learn | Govt notifies new guidelines permitting abortion until 24 weeks in case of minors, rape survivors
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