Once the report is approved, it will go to the plenary session of the National Assembly on January 25, demonstrations are already announced.
Establishing a seven-month gestation period for the termination of pregnancy in the event of rape for women over 18 years of age, and without a period for girls and adolescents under 18 years of age and women with disabilities, will provoke mobilizations, as announced by the sectors in favor and against.
The Justice Commission of the National Assembly in the session of January 10, with six votes, approved the inclusion of the text in the bill that guarantees the voluntary interruption of pregnancy of girls, adolescents and women in case of rape. The bill will be passed on to the plenary session of the legislature for its approval.
Martha Cecilia Villafuerte, national director of Familia Ecuador, commented that the ease and indifference with which a group of legislators established that a pregnancy can be interrupted at seven months of gestation, for women over 18 years of age, is striking. Science determines that a five-month-old fetus can survive with help.
He questioned that in the case of girls and adolescents and women with disabilities it has been established that there will be no limit of weeks to perform an abortion for rape.
Villafuerte announces mobilizations towards the National Assembly for January 25 when the project is scheduled to be processed in a second debate. There will be sit-ins and, as far as possible, attendance is expected to reject the text of the legislative board of Justice, he added.
He criticized that the articles of the project do not legislate anything about the post-abortion accompaniment and of the rape victim who does not become pregnant. Neither solutions are proposed to reduce rape rates, because it focuses only on the raped woman and became pregnant; the one who did not get pregnant but was raped has no place in this bill ”.
Ana Cristina Vera, from the Vivas Nos Queremos collective, highlighted that in most articles of the project the changes are minimal, but announces that they will remain vigilant so that the project is approved at least with the text proposed by the legislator José Agualsaca (UNES) , which partially sets deadlines for terminating pregnancy due to rape.
He specified that his group will defend that abortion for rape does not have deadlines and questioned that there are assembly members who with ignorance try to influence that in other countries there are deadlines, but those deadlines are set for free abortion.
She insisted that the women’s organization will never agree to a law that sets deadlines, because those deadlines leave out the most vulnerable women.
Faced with the various legislative proposals to put six weeks or twelve weeks, Ana Cristina Vera said that it is absurd for a cause for rape, since Chile demonstrated that a deadline for abortion for rape is a failure.
Deadlines
The motion on article 19 of the draft Law for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape was presented by the Assemblyman of Unión por la Esperanza (UNES) José Agualsaca, and received the support of legislators Alejandro Jaramillo and Johanna Moreira (ID); Dina Farinango (PK); Gissela Garzón, Yhajaira Urresta and José Agualsaca (UNES).
The approved text states: “in order to guarantee the right to make a free and voluntary decision to interrupt the pregnancy of girls, adolescent women and pregnant persons who are victims of rape, the maximum period for medical intervention will be 28 weeks of gestation for women over 18 years of age; and without time limit for girls, adolescents under 18 years of age and women with disabilities ”.
Assembly members Dalton Bacigalupo (ID), Segundo Chimbo and Ricardo Vanegas (PK) and Sofía Espín (UNES) spoke against it.
Legislator Sofía Espín (UNES) commented that repeatedly the Constitutional Court orders to put time for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape and in the case of the proposal of her co-chair Agualsaca does not include deadlines for girls and adolescents, when in several countries they are set as a limit twelve weeks to abort.
Talking about an abortion for rape at 28 weeks of gestation is really putting a woman’s life at risk, Espín stressed, who also said that this proposal leaves girls and adolescents very concerned.
During that first day of discussions on the report of the bill that emerged after the ruling of the Constitutional Court that decriminalized abortion for rape cases, it was also defined that abortion for rape will not be considered a right but a voluntary option that has the woman, girl or adolescent.
It was also defined with respect to the requirements that must be observed for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape, in which Assemblyman José Agualsaca (UNES) proposed that a text be added in which it is determined that to guarantee access to justice and non impunity, all cases will be brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office by the health establishment for investigation and punishment, within 48 hours. (I)
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