Colombia will debate the decriminalization of abortion in the Constitutional Court

In the coming weeks, the magistrates of the Constitutional Court of Colombia will vote whether abortion should be withdrawn as one of the crimes contemplated in the Penal Code, in an important debate for the sexual and reproductive rights of women.

The first debate is at item 6 on Wednesday’s agenda, but sources close to the Constitutional Court indicate that it is not known if there will be time to address it, but in any case the Plenary Chamber has to make a decision before November 19.

What is the current situation?

Abortion in Colombia has been allowed since 2006 – also by a Constitutional resolution – only for three reasons: when the health or life of the mother is at risk, when it is the result of rape or incest or if there is a malformation of the fetus.

In the rest of the cases, according to article 122 of the Colombian Penal Code, women (or those who perform abortions) are exposed to up to 54 months in prison.

It is estimated that some 400,000 women and girls undergo an induced abortion each year in Colombia and approximately one third of them suffer some complication; Furthermore, unsafe abortion is the fourth leading cause of maternal mortality in the country.

To judge the constitutionality of abortion, there are currently two petitions in the Court, which must be studied these weeks.

The two will be studied at the same time, according to sources from the court, and will be presented by the magistrate Alberto Rojas and by the president of the Constitutional Court, Antonio José Lizarazo; both are very similar, but have nuances.

What is being debated?

Judge Rojas will argue that the crime of abortion “creates hateful and unjustified discrimination” by punishing women who have abortions, a situation that does not occur with men, according to the presentation made known by Efe.

Thus, abortion would be a “gender crime”, so the magistrate wants it to disappear from the Penal Code and for Congress to regulate the voluntary interruption of pregnancy and its terms.

If that argument does not work for him, he will try to resort to the “decay of res judicata”, that is to say, that “there is a resignification of sexual and reproductive rights” that merits a new judicial ruling; In other words, times have evolved and only three grounds are no longer necessary to guarantee women’s rights.

There were six arguments in the lawsuit filed by the Just Cause for Abortion coalition, made up of feminist organizations, and which Lizarazo has to present.

“Several arguments have to do with the fact that regulating abortion through the Penal Code hinders its access through the grounds,” explains attorney Marina Ardila, from Women’s Link, one of the organizations behind the Cause.

In other words, it will be based on the barriers that exist for access to abortion in the three causes and that it also “violates equality since structural barriers disproportionately affect women and girls in situations of vulnerability”, such as those who live in rural environments .

In this way, investigations are exposed that document that “the crime of abortion is ineffective because it does not prevent women from aborting, but it does encourage them to do so in unsafe conditions.”

What are the deadlines?

Sources close to the process assure that, once the debate begins, the discussion will take “15 or 20 days” during which the magistrates will decide if there are arguments to consider the crime of abortion unconstitutional.

In any case, the lawsuit presented by Lizarazo expires on November 19, so it must be resolved before that date.

What are the chances of it being decriminalized?

For it to be decriminalized, the favorable vote of five of the nine magistrates in either of the two debates is necessary.

A similar debate presented in 2020 that called for the decriminalization of abortion without barriers until the 16th week of gestation was only supported by three magistrates, so it remains to be seen if more followers are now obtained.

It is taken for granted that both Rojas and Lizarazo will vote in favor, who is joined by the 2020 debate speaker, Judge Alejandro Linares. There is a fourth guaranteed vote, according to the sources consulted, and some of the female magistrates have yet to be convinced.

However, from Causa Justo about abortion they feel “excited”. “We feel that we are very close (to achieving decriminalization), we have never been before in Colombia,” the Women’s Link lawyer told Efe. (I)