The Government is aware that the current Abortion Law has cracks. Various problems creep in through them that, in practice, make it difficult for women to access voluntary termination of pregnancy: hospitals where it is not practiced, envelopes given to these women to continue reflecting on whether they want to be mothers once they They have decided on the unique possibility of pharmacological abortion, with medication, bleeding and contractions that they have alone at home, without medical attention. And it is because of all these fissures that the renewal of that rule is underway, with the clash of the right-wing parties and an appeal still pending in the Constitutional Court presented by the Popular Party.
The reform has been briefly explained this Wednesday by the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, in a Commission in Congress that she herself had requested. Among other issues, she has assured, “voluntarily interrupting the pregnancy will be guaranteed in all public hospitals.” The changes that Montero has spoken about, which are now in the final review period, point to several key issues.
Access to the public system, which often encounters problems due to the conscientious objection of the staff. So that it does not continue to happen, the minister explained that “it is essential that all centers with gynecology and obstetrics services have professionals who guarantee the voluntary interruption of pregnancy”, “respecting” also “scrupulously” the right to conscientious objection . “It is a constitutional right, which has to be guaranteed, but it cannot be a barrier or an impediment in the exercise of women’s rights.” To reconcile both, she has explained, “the text is referenced in a regulation already in force of the right to conscientious objection: the Euthanasia Law”. In other words, according to this recent regulation, a registry “that allows identifying needs in each health area, so that the right can be guaranteed in all cases.”
The descent at 16 years of the age at which this right can be exercised without the permission of mothers and fathers, which is currently 18. “These young women, between 16 and 18 years old, can freely and autonomously decide to undergo a life or death operation , but parental consent is required to voluntarily terminate their pregnancy. In the same way that they are responsible for working or having sexual relations, they are responsible for deciding about their bodies”, the minister stated.
The power to decide the method to abort will belong to the woman. “On many occasions, only pharmacological abortion is offered,” he recalled. Thus, the woman must have an abortion at her home: “Many times without sufficient information and resulting in an experience of painful contractions and heavy bleeding that should not be experienced without specialized and adequate care.”
Without envelopes and without three days of reflection. The reform wants to eliminate the obligation to receive the current envelope —full of information and resources for being a mother—, and it will only be given when the woman asks for it. “Immediately”, the minister said, from the health center “she may be referred to a hospital to access this right, through an emergency procedure”. Thus also ending the three days of mandatory reflection that now exist. Because after the “path” they travel to decide, “they are once again asked to reflect on the possibility of being mothers”, added the minister. “We force all women by law to reflect for three days, as if their decisions were not legitimate. Can you imagine, ladies and gentlemen, that this would happen to a man who goes to the health center to protect his right to health?
Specialized phone. There will be a specialized line on sexual and reproductive rights from which the procedure will be explained and where women will also be able to find out about their rights and where and how to defend them if there is a problem.
“Expand rights”
Following these axes, Montero has affirmed that the “duty” of the Government is “to continue expanding the rights of women” and “to work so that all public powers act in accordance with eliminating all legal, political, economic or any other barriers that prevent full access to sexual and reproductive health and rights”. With this, it has advanced that the legislative amendment will not guide the sexual health of women “neither exclusively nor fundamentally to pregnancy”, but “to the enjoyment” of sexuality: “With an intersectional approach and enormous respect for the different sexual preferences , always in accordance with the principle of equality and consent as the center of sexual freedom”.
It will also focus on the guarantee of reproductive health: “Improving care, advancing in the recognition of maternity leave before childbirth, and acting to prevent and eradicate gynecological and obstetric violence, a form of violence against women recognized by the United Nations, and promoting the good practices that health professionals already develop in many hospitals in our country”.
And finally, Montero has made reference to menstrual health —with the drop in VAT for products necessary for menstruation such as compresses, tampons or menstrual cups—; co-responsibility in contraception —”that women are not always the ones who assume it, in terms of physical health, psychological health or economically”— between men, women and the State; and the “importance” of sex education that is “guaranteed” at all educational levels.
#reform #sexual #health #law #guarantee #access #abortion #public #hospitals