This group in favor of abortion for rape without deadlines will meet on January 25 in the vicinity of the National Assembly
The platform Organized for a Fair and Reparative Law (OLA), made up of 43 women’s and feminist organizations from Ecuador, called for a mobilization for next January 25 that will be concentrated in the National Assembly starting at 08:30, to demand that legislators approve a fair and restorative abortion law.
Even from Guayaquil they hope to travel to Quito to the feminist march, for which they opened a registry of participants to finance the transfer.
The president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, convened a plenary session for January 25 starting at 09:30 to process the second and final debate on the bill that guarantees the voluntary interruption of pregnancy of girls, adolescents and women in case of rape, whose report was prepared by the Justice Commission and generated controversy by establishing maximum terms in which the interruption will be allowed. The blocks hope to meet to debate internally to assume a position.
Abortion for rape will enter the debate in search of the 70 votes for its approval
The spokespersons for the platform Johanna Romero, Susana Guijarro and Sybel Martínez pointed out that setting deadlines to access the voluntary interruption of pregnancy excludes the most vulnerable victims.
Johanna Romero warned that by setting deadlines of 20 or 22 weeks to interrupt pregnancy due to rape, the Assembly is creating a legal limbo so that those victims of sexual violence who exceed the temporality, because although these women cannot be penalized for the effects of the sentence of the Constitutional Court, they will not be able to access a decent health service either; therefore, these women will be condemned to secrecy and death.
He said that the discussion should focus on safe or clandestine abortion, since it is up to the State to prevent the deaths of women in clandestinity. Motherhood cannot be imposed because it is a form of torture towards rape victims.
Therefore, he insisted that when the law sets deadlines or weeks to restrict access to abortion, what is being done is legalizing torture for those women who exceed the limits imposed by the law.
Sybel Martínez recognized that in general terms the bill that guarantees the voluntary interruption of pregnancy of girls, adolescents and women in case of rape is well drawn, that it corresponds to the reality throughout the social spectrum of women victims of sexual violence , since it ensures their comprehensive care and the quality of said care, deals with comprehensive reparation.
However, the three critical knots that have caused controversy persist and refer to conscientious objection, issues that were overcome within the commission, but on the issue of deadlines the legislative table could not withstand the social and political pressure , and unfortunately he has had to reconsider his wise decisions, he noted.
Martínez considered that the decisions of the legislative table were correct when it approved that the interruption of pregnancy due to rape can be given up to 28 weeks as a maximum term, when in reality there is no need to talk about terms.
The activist lamented what she described as extremism, the position assumed by Assembly members Sofía Espín (UNES), Dalton Bacigalupo (ID) and Ricardo Vanegas (PK), and said that this extremism pitifully resonates with a brave bar of public opinion that has as strident and confused interlocutors, ex-president Rafael Correa; to the first lady, María de Lourdes Alcívar, and to the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso.
He indicated that it is not necessary to be an expert political analyst to realize that when it comes to regulating the sexual and reproductive rights of women, the marriage between left and right in the country does not seem to bother anyone.
She said that she is concerned that the struggle of the women’s and feminist movement in Ecuador, on the decriminalization of abortion for rape, seems to be dissolving in the National Assembly, and that the weeks of gestation have been the perfect excuse for religious convictions disguised as concern have made a bill regressive.
The bill should never contemplate a temporality, access to abortion for rape is already an exceptionality, Martínez affirmed, therefore, setting deadlines constitutes an exceptionality of the exceptionality; a barrier for survivors of sexual violence and especially for girls who will always arrive late for health services.
By 3:00 p.m. this January 19, pro-life groups and some legislators hope to announce their actions and positions regarding the project under discussion. (I)
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