The Justice Commission sought scientific criteria to review the term of up to seven months of management for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape.
Before scientific contributions, the Justice Commission of the National Assembly received personal criteria with political nuances, which will lead to review the resolution of the table regarding setting up to seven months of gestation the voluntary interruption of pregnancy due to rape. Lawmakers hope to make a decision before Monday.
Ten people participated in the commission who presented their positions as doctors, pediatricians, gynecologists, researchers, doctors in literature, rights defenders, feminists and pro-lifers. Other legislators who did not belong to the Justice Commission also attended.
Added to this were rushed moments in session 067 of the table, this January 14, where legislators for and against abortion confronted the exhibitors orally, and ratified their positions before the text of article 19 of the project which refers to the time in which the termination of pregnancy due to rape should be allowed.
Reducing the 28 weeks of gestation to interrupt pregnancy due to rape enters negotiation in the National Assembly
Since Monday, January 10, the Justice table debates and prepares the report for the second and definitive debate of the bill that guarantees the voluntary interruption of pregnancy of girls, adolescents and women in case of rape.
And on the first day of discussions, with six votes, it approved a text in which it is determined that “in order to guarantee the right to make a free and voluntary decision to interrupt the pregnancy of girls, adolescent women and pregnant people who are victims of rape, the maximum term for medical intervention will be 28 weeks of gestation for women over 18 years of age and without term for girls, adolescents under 18 years of age and women with disabilities.
The inclusion of this text in the bill that would pass to the attention of the plenary on January 25, according to the planning of the presidency of the National Assembly, raised alerts in the legislative benches that anticipated a vote against and even opened the possibility of negotiation to agree on another term to allow abortion after rape.
That warning from the blocks led the Justice table to open a new debate on what had already been approved and receive professionals and experts, who from the technical and scientific evidence present contributions and observations to the critical knot of the temporality of abortion for rape. The intention is to reconsider the vote and the text approved on Monday.
The pediatrician Syayna Pandzic was the first to attend, but her scientific contribution was minimal, she suggested to the table that, given the dilemma of temporality, they choose to save both lives: the woman and the baby in her womb, and said that there are alternatives such as adoption for the babies that are born.
The turn corresponded to Karina Marín, doctor in Literature, defender of the rights of people with disabilities and feminist. He said that there should be no deadlines for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape and that to do otherwise would be discrimination, because at the moment there are no deadlines for abortion in the case of women with disabilities. Deadlines have no reason to be when there is a causal regime such as violation.
Subsequently, the British doctor Calum Miller attended, a researcher on abortion from the biological and ethical point of view, who maintained a thesis more attached to the defense of life, presented studies from the University of Oxford that determine that the first heartbeat in the womb of a woman occurs at 16 days; that is, two weeks after fertilization, that spontaneous movements begin between four and five weeks after conception, six weeks after conception brain waves can be measured and it is believed that babies can feel pain at ten weeks. That social interaction between twins can occur at twelve weeks.
Before the legislators, he commented that if the Constitutional Court has forced the National Assembly to put a term for the interruption of pregnancy, the safest thing is at twelve weeks, although in some places like Texas and Indonesia it is done at six weeks. She also spoke of the risks for girls and adolescents due to late-term abortion.
national figures
Another of the professionals who attended the Health Commission was Octavio Miranda, a doctor, gynecologist and former Dean of Medicine at Uniandes University. He presented figures at the country level and said that 90% of women request the interruption of pregnancy up to 12 weeks; 10% from 12 to 20 weeks and if it is greater than 20 weeks it is 3% of women.
He indicated to the assembly members that there is no biological difference between a fetus of 12, 14 and 15 weeks of management.
Miranda commented that in Ecuador eight out of ten pregnancies of girls under 14 years of age are the product of sexual violence; 40% of girls between the ages of 15 and 18 started their sexually active lives.
That according to medical statistics, for girls between 10 and 14 years of age, their first sexual relationship was with people older than them and generally relatives.
The legal data determine that an average of eleven rape complaints are filed each day in the Prosecutor’s Office, and in 2020 alone, 13,000 complaints of sexual violence were reported, of which 42% corresponded to rape.
Miranda recommended that the Commission not establish an age limit for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape in girls, adolescents and women with disabilities; and if for political reasons they need time or deadlines, in Ecuador they are not viable for more than 24 weeks.
Esteban Ortiz, a doctor specialized in public health, affirmed that therapeutic abortion without medical supervision in the country continues to be extremely high, due to lack of access to the medical procedure.
From 2004 to 2020, around 435,000 abortions were registered, and by age ranges between 10 and 14 years of age, 4,000 were presented; from 15 to 19 years more than 70,000 abortions. Of this group, the girls in the first group have a higher risk of dying. That on average in Ecuador between 16,000 and 20,000 abortions are performed per year, and that continues to happen with or without law.
Ortiz commented that on abortion in Ecuador there must be a clear, regular policy and not hide a health problem, which should be free and freely accessible to all.
Regarding the temporality, the public health doctor said that these would be totally restrictive for the youngest population group and that it is located in the poorest sector. If the limit of the interruption of pregnancy is set at twelve weeks, it would exclude more than five thousand girls and women a year from having access to a procedure and therefore, it would be limiting the access to health of a population group. He said no one in their right mind is going to want to agree to a late-stage termination of the pregnancy.
From the evidence, added Ortiz, setting limits for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape will be the insurmountable barrier for the most vulnerable group of a smaller percentage of people. (I)
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