By Manuel Rueda | Related Press
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia turned the newest nation in Latin America to broaden entry to abortion Monday because the nation’s Constitutional Courtroom voted to legalize the process till the twenty fourth week of being pregnant.
The choice by the tribunal of 9 judges fell wanting the expectations of pro-choice teams that had been pushing for abortion to be utterly decriminalized in Colombia. However it was however described as a historic occasion by girls’s rights teams, which estimate 400,000 girls get clandestine abortions within the nation every year.
Earlier than the ruling, Colombia allowed abortions solely when a lady’s life was at risk, a fetus had malformations or a being pregnant resulted from rape.
Now girls in Colombia will have the ability to get abortions till the twenty fourth week of their being pregnant with out having to supply any justification. After the twenty fourth week of being pregnant, abortion will nonetheless face restrictions.
“We have been making an attempt to get the entire 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 one among 5 organizations that filed a lawsuit in 2020 to get the excessive court docket to evaluate Colombia’s abortions legal guidelines.
The lawsuit argued that restrictions on abortion discriminated towards girls from low revenue areas for whom it was more durable to get authorized abortions, as a result of that they had 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 regulation will now make it simpler for folks of decrease revenue 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 lately mentioned that ladies can not can't be tried in court docket for terminating their pregnancies.
Latin America can also be a area the place some nations 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 occasions to evaluate the lawsuit filed by girls’s rights teams with out voting on it. In the meantime pro-choice teams waving inexperienced flags, confronted off towards pro-life protesters wearing blue.
Jonathan Silva, an activist for the pro-life group United for Life, mentioned he was shocked by Monday’s determination. “We don’t perceive how this occurred” he mentioned. “However we should stage protests, and name on members of congress to control abortion.”
A ballot performed final yr in Colombia mentioned that 25% of individuals thought of abortion a criminal offense, whereas 42% disagreed with that assertion. In Colombia, girls who get unlawful abortions can resist three years in jail.