Colombia’s constitutional court decriminalised abortions within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, making it the fifth country in the region to make the practice more accessible and safer
Abortion-rights activists celebrate after the Constitutional Court approved the decriminalisation of abortion, lifting all limitations on the procedure until the 24th week of pregnancy, in Bogota, Colombia. AP
“We celebrate this ruling as a historic victory for the women’s movement in Colombia that has fought for decades for the recognition of their rights.”
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, was quoted as saying after Colombia’s court decriminalised abortion procedures up to 24 weeks of gestation, paving the way for greater abortion access in the largely Catholic country.
The country turned green on Tuesday as protesters in favour of access to abortion — wore the colour adopted by the pro-choice movement — and celebrated in front of Colombia’s constitutional court in downtown Bogota, the capital.
Here’s a look at what the new law in Colombia states, where other countries, including India stand on the matter of abortion.
Colombia’s new abortion law
On Tuesday, Colombia became the latest country in Latin America to expand access to abortion as the nation’s Constitutional Court voted to legalise the procedure until the 24th week of pregnancy.
Before the ruling, Colombia allowed abortions only when a woman’s life was in danger, a foetus had malformations or the pregnancy resulted from rape. Apart from those exceptions, both women and the doctors who performed their abortions would face prison sentences ranging from 16 to 54 months.
“After the right to suffrage, this is the most important historic achievement, for the life, autonomy and full and equal realisation of women,” Bogota mayor Claudia Lopez tweeted.
“We were trying to get the complete decriminalisation of abortion … but this is still a historic step,” said Cristina Rosero, a lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, an advocacy group that was one of five organisations that filed a lawsuit in 2020 to get the high court to review Colombia’s abortions laws.
Also see: Celebrations in Colombia after top court legalises abortion up to 24 weeks
According to a report in The Guardian, reproductive rights groups estimate that as many as 400,000 abortions are performed each year in Colombia, with only 10 per cent carried out legally. During 2020, at least 26,223 unsafe abortions were carried out across Colombia, according to Profamilia – a local reproductive healthcare provider.
According to Causa Justa, a Colombian women’s rights coalition, at least 350 women were convicted or sanctioned for abortions between 2006 and mid-2019, including at least 20 girls under the age of 18.
The issue of abortion is sticky in Colombia as the majority of the population identifies as Roman Catholic abortion. In the past, judges have met several times to review the lawsuit filed by women’s rights groups without voting on it.
Other countries’ fight against decriminalising abortion
Colombia is the fifth Latin American country to decriminalise abortion access, along with Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana.
While Mexico decriminalised abortion in September last year, Argentina also saw a change in abortion laws in late 2020.
It is important to note that Latin America is a traditionally conservative region with a powerful Catholic and evangelical Christian lobby. This translates to the region having the most restrictive abortion laws, often banning the procedure outright.
Most countries across the world allow an abortion to be performed when the life of the mother is at risk. The exceptions are Malta, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Strongly Catholic Malta is the only European country to have a total ban on abortion.
At the other end of the scale, 63 countries and territories permit women to terminate their pregnancies at their request, although usually with some conditions — most commonly, a time limit on when the procedure can be performed.
Canada is the only Western nation where a woman can seek an elective abortion at any time in her pregnancy, although in practice only a handful of terminations occur during the third trimester, HuffPost has reported in the past.
File image of Nicaraguan activists holding a banner reading “Right to decide” as they take part in a protest in favour of the legalisation of abortion, outside the Nicaraguan National Assembly in Managua. AFP
What about India?
In India, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy {MTP{ Act 1971 prescribes what is and isn’t allowed by law in the country.
The MTP Act, 1971, was amended in April 2021 expanding access to safe and legal abortion services. The legislation increased the upper gestation limit for several categories — including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women — was increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks.
Under the Indian Penal Code it’s a crime to get an abortion, but with the MTP in place, exceptions are permitted in such instances. Others can also get the procedure if they have the consent of the doctor before 20 weeks.
With inputs from agencies
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.