The National Assembly begins to define, this Thursday, February 17, the term that will be established in the law that guarantees the voluntary interruption of pregnancy for girls, adolescents and women in case of rape.
The plenary session is convened at 09:30. There are still no certainties regarding the 70 votes that are needed for the law to be approved, since on this issue the majority of the legislative benches will not vote organically, since more than a hundred assembly members were freed from partisan disciplines for the process and vote.
Five legislative blocks leave assembly members free to vote on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in case of rape
Pro-life and feminist groups disagree with the term for the interruption of pregnancy due to rape in Ecuador
There is a previous motion presented by the assembly member who was the rapporteur for the project, Johanna Moreira (ID), so that the vote on the project be divided into two blocks, separating from the entire text article 19 of the project referring to the deadlines for exercising the right to Voluntary termination of pregnancy in case of rape.
There is a report from the Justice Commission of the National Assembly in which it is stated that the interruption of pregnancy due to rape could occur up to 16 weeks of gestation (four months); with the exception of girls, adolescents, rural women, towns and nationalities, whose term is extended to 18 weeks (four and a half months).
Around this proposal there are no major changes in each bench. The Pachakutik sector maintains its position of letting its assembly members go free, as does the Union for Hope, the Christian Social Party and some independents.
On the other hand, the Democratic Left maintains its support for the report presented by the Justice Commission, which includes the new deadline proposal, despite the fact that weeks ago the political leadership of that party spoke of the need to divide the deadline for the termination of pregnancy: girls up to 14 years of age; adolescents from 14 to 18 years of age, and women over 18 years of age.
Marlon Cadena, coordinator of the Democratic Left caucus, stated that they will unanimously join the majority report presented by the Justice Commission based on the rights of victims, girls, adolescents and women; although he pointed out that there are two requests from legislators who asked to be freed from partisan discipline.
Assemblyman Esteban Torres (PSC) specified that the bench will have freedom in granting the vote regarding the law on the interruption of pregnancy due to rape and stressed that this issue is not even discussed in the block, because each assemblyman will bear the cost of his decision. That he personally will not endorse either the majority or minority report.
Ricardo Vanegas, from Pachakutik, assured that the majority report does not have enough votes and for this reason he considered that the minority report presented by him would have 70 votes. He said that in the majority report they began to haggle over the terms for the termination of pregnancy; meanwhile, in the minority report he proposes up to 12 weeks the interruption of pregnancy for rape. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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