The Guatemalan Congress, controlled by official conservatives, approved in the midst of Women’s Day a law that toughens prison sentences for abortion and prohibits marriage between people of the same sex and education on sexual diversity.
The “Law for the Protection of Life and the Family” sanctions up to 10 years in prison for “the woman who causes her abortion or consents to another person causing it.” Under current law, the maximum sentence is three years.
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The text, which was ready to be promulgated by President Alejandro Giammattei, punishes with imprisonment for up to 50 years the person responsible for an “abortion or abortion maneuvers carried out without the consent of the woman” and that causes her death, a crime considered as a “qualified abortion”.
In Guatemala only so-called therapeutic abortion is allowedwhen the life of the mother, who will now have greater control, is in danger, according to the new law.
“While other countries advance in the approval of abortion laws and in laws that degenerate the original concept of family, this initiative becomes an important law for Guatemalan society,” said Deputy Armando Castillo of the VIVA party (right), one of the promoters of the norm.
“Losing a pregnancy is devastating and this law, despite the fact that a woman may be in mourning, automatically applies the suspicious label to her. Spontaneous abortions are being criminalized and penalized and that is dangerous,” warned Congresswoman Lucrecia Hernández. , from the centre-left Semilla party.
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Stigma to diversity
The law also reforms the Civil Code to make it clear that “same-sex marriage is expressly prohibited” in Guatemala.
Likewise, “it prohibits public and private educational entities from promoting policies or programs in childhood and adolescence that tend to divert their identity according to their sex at birth.”
This is because the deputies who promoted it consider that there are “minority groups in Guatemalan society” that propose “models of behavior and coexistence that are different from the natural order of marriage and the family, which represent a threat to the moral balance of our society and therefore a danger to peace”.
“Human rights are being violated against important sectors of the population. This law is absolutely discriminatory and it is a law that incites hatred,” added deputy Walter Félix, of the leftist URNG party.
Hernandez added that the law will cause “stigma” and “intolerance” towards diverse people that could lead to “hate crimes”. “Clearly (the law) is unconstitutional,” he specified.
“This law should actually be called the law to imprison and kill women. It is one of the most brazen things that they are doing in this Legislature and above all, they do it on Women’s Day, “said Samuel Pérez, also from the Semilla group. .
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Human rights are being violated to important sectors of the population. This law is absolutely discriminatory and is a law that incites hatred
The approval comes on the eve of President Giammattei declaring Guatemala a Ibero-American Pro-Life Capital.
“Don’t come to us with silly ideas. This law is constitutional, it is viable and it is a blessing from God,” said deputy Patricia Sandoval (FCN, right), while outside Congress a small group of women protested against this law.
Notice of objections
After its approval, the Human Rights Ombudsman, Jordán Rodas, pointed out that the law “violates” international conventions signed by Guatemala, and announced a battle so that be declared illegal by the Constitutional Court (CC), the country’s highest court.
“We are going to propose an action of unconstitutionality so that this (law) has no effect,” said Rodas, when accompanying the protesters outside Parliament.
Tens of thousands of women took to the streets in various cities around the world to demand their rights, including the possibility of deciding whether to opt for an abortion.
(You can continue reading: Learn about the process to have a safe abortion in Colombia)
In Guatemala, hundreds protested in the center of the capital and other cities to call for an end to corruption and demand justice on the fifth anniversary of the death of 41 girls during a fire in a state shelter, among other demands.
AFP
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