The Justice Commission will meet this Monday, January 10 from 09:30 to know the draft report, debate it and approve it.
The second debate on the bill to guarantee the right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the event of rape opens the possibility that the National Assembly may define a maximum time in which abortion will be allowed.
The Legislature’s Justice Commission expects this Monday, January 10, at 09:30, to open the debate and approve the report for the plenary session. There is a draft report that compiles all the observations presented in plenary and in writing in the committee, but its texts could change after the debate at the table.
In the three controversial topics: temporality, conscientious objection and requirements for abortion for rape, there is flexibility in relation to what was discussed in the first debate. In addition, the table received countless suggestions on these issues, which will lead to a change in the position that the legislature will assume.
The National Assembly began to discuss the bill to guarantee the right to interrupt pregnancy due to rape after the ruling issued in April 2021 by the Constitutional Court where it ruled that paragraph 2 of article 150 of the Comprehensive Organic Code is unconstitutional. Criminal (COIP), which only allowed the interruption of pregnancy in the case of women with mental disabilities who were victims of rape.
In the ruling, the CC ordered the Ombudsman’s Office to draw up a bill that guarantees the right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the event of rape. That is the document that the legislature is discussing.
The president of the Justice commission, Alejandro Jaramillo, with his technical team built the draft that will be debated and awaits its approval later in the week.
Final report on the law that guarantees abortion for rape would be ready the first week of January 2022
One of the critical issues was the requirements that had to be observed in order to access abortion. According to Jaramillo, on this issue it is being proposed that if after providing the information to the girl, adolescent, woman and pregnant person who is a victim of sexual violence, they express their decision to do so, the health personnel will make available to them the single form for the legal and voluntary interruption of pregnancy.
The form will be free and in the event that the person who wishes to terminate the pregnancy is under 14 years of age, no request will be required.
Under no circumstances will a complaint, examination or prior statement be required from the person who wishes to interrupt her pregnancy as a result of rape.
Regarding conscientious objection, in the draft text, it is determined that health personnel who must intervene directly in the voluntary interruption of pregnancy have the right to exercise conscientious objection, but must maintain their decision in the public sphere and private.
Likewise, you must refer in good faith the girl, adolescent, woman or pregnant person who wishes to interrupt the pregnancy due to rape so that she can be attended to by another professional in an efficient and timely manner, without delay.
But the professional who is in remote, remote or difficult-to-access areas must carry out the pregnancy termination procedure.
Health personnel are prohibited from alleging conscientious objection collectively and institutionally.
Temporality
One of the most controversial texts of this bill is the temporality; that is, until what week will abortion be allowed in cases of rape. On this issue, the only majority position that exists within the legislative commission is that a maximum term be established.
Three critical issues marked the first debate on the abortion-for-rape bill
In the draft report, the weeks to be approved are left blank. Specifically, the text states: “In order to guarantee the right to make a free and voluntary decision to interrupt the pregnancy of girls, adolescents, women and pregnant persons who are victims of rape, the maximum term for medical intervention will be … … .. gestation weeks”.
“The gestation weeks will be solely and exclusively verified by the health professional after the corresponding examinations, and in case of being within the weeks authorized by this law, the voluntary interruption of pregnancy due to rape will be carried out” .
Assemblyman Alejandro Jaramillo affirms that the majority of the members of the legislative board maintain that there should be a term, and some propose that it be 12, 14, 20 and even 24 weeks; that some doctors who appeared warned that the maximum period would be up to 24 weeks, because from now on it would no longer be an interruption but a delivery.
The legislator Ricardo Vanegas (Pachakutik), a member of the Justice commission, considers that the core point of the debate is centered on the period of time that the termination of pregnancy will be allowed, and the legislature cannot move away from the sentence where it indicates that it must be complied with deadlines and those must be set by the Assembly.
What is being discussed in the commission is precisely the time in which the termination of pregnancy will be allowed. He reiterated that he suggests that interruption should be allowed before the first heartbeat, that is, the fourth week after conception.
But there are also those who maintain that the interruption of pregnancy can occur up to twelve weeks, because that criterion prevails in most of the countries of America. Although he said that there are legislators and also social organizations that ask that this interruption be made until week number 20. The second debate on this controversial issue has yet to begin. (I)
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