The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, has rejected this Tuesday the decriminalization of abortion until week 24, which he has equated to “a contraceptive practice”, one day after the Constitutional Court decided it in a ruling celebrated as historic by the groups feminists throughout Latin America. In contrast, the left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, who had until now maintained a conspicuous silence regarding the public debate, congratulated the women who gave that fight on their social networks.
Until now, the voluntary interruption of pregnancy was allowed in Colombia under three grounds (risk to the life or health of the woman; when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest; or malformation that makes life outside the womb unfeasible). The feminist movement, through the Just Cause organization, asked the high court a year and a half ago that women stop being criminalized for having an abortion. The Court, in a delayed decision that was defined with five votes in favor and four against, decided on Monday to decriminalize it, although not fully.
“I have always been a pro-life person, I believe that life begins from conception and I was respectful of the three grounds,” said Duque, a few months after handing over power, in an interview with The FM. “But this ruling not only alters this principle, but it seems delicate to me that, in the scope that is being put on the table, we are facilitating abortion to become an almost contraceptive, recurrent and regular practice,” he said, echoing the most conservative voices that oppose the voluntary termination of pregnancy.
“I am concerned that this practice of abortion, which is contrary to life, becomes a daily practice and, in a sexist country, that this mechanism can be resorted to, that it becomes a contraceptive method for many so as not to use a condom” , he reiterated. Her reaction was one of the most anticipated, in contrast to the various voices of feminists, activists and human rights defenders who had welcomed the Constitutional decision the day before. Her party, the Democratic Center, founded by former President Álvaro Uribe, often attacks the high courts on various issues that cause clashes of values. Both the candidate of the Democratic Center, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, and Federico Gutiérrez, part of the right-wing coalition Equipo por Colombia, shared the same line, recalling that they consider themselves “pro-life” and find the decision worrying.
On the other ideological shore, Gustavo Petro, at the head of all the presidential polls, has had several disagreements with the feminist movement, caused friction by invoking an ideal of “zero abortion” in the campaign that he did not detail and included as a candidate in the Historic Pact, a tailor-made coalition, to a Christian leader, Alfredo Saade. So there were expectations about his reaction to the ruling. “I congratulate the women who waged the fight against the criminalization of abortion that criminalized them and killed them. His triumph is theirs, ”Petro wrote this Tuesday on his Twitter account. “The empowerment of women that arises from here, sexual education and freedoms are the best way to protect life,” he said. Francia Márquez, his partner in the Historical Pact and one of the few women in the contest, had described the news as “a victory for women in our country.”
I congratulate the women who waged the fight against the criminalization of abortion that criminalized them and killed them.
Theirs is their triumph.
The empowerment of women that arises from here, sexual education and freedoms are the best way to protect life
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 22, 2022
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Most of the presidential candidates had spoken the day before. Former Minister of Health Alejandro Gaviria, who has always supported the voluntary termination of pregnancy, celebrated the ruling as “a triumph of women, civil society and public health”, while Sergio Fajardo, his competitor for the candidacy of The Centro Esperanza Coalition agreed in considering it, above all, a matter of public health and a success of the Constitutional Court.
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