With 101 votes in favor, 8 abstentions and 51 against, the Guatemalan Congress yesterday passed a law that increases prison sentences for abortion and prohibits same-sex marriage. The text also prohibits schools from teaching gender theories to children and adolescents.
The Law for the Protection of Life and Family punishes with up to ten years in prison the “woman who causes her abortion or allows someone else to cause it”. In the current law, the maximum penalty is five years. life for the mother are the exception.
The text also provides for the punishment of up to 50 years in prison for doctors responsible for an “abortion or abortive maneuvers performed without the woman’s consent” that result in the mother’s death. Through these measures, President Giammattei intends to declare Guatemala the Pro-Life Ibero-American Capital.
“While other countries make progress in passing laws on abortion and laws that degenerate the original concept of the family, this initiative is an important law for Guatemalan society,” said Representative Armando Castillo, of the conservative Viva party.
The law also amends the Civil Code to state that same-sex marriage is “expressly prohibited” in Guatemala, as well as prohibiting “public and private educational institutions from promoting policies or programs in childhood and adolescence that tend to according to the sex of birth”.
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