Judges on the Constitutional Court of Colombia on Monday voted to decriminalize abortion until 24 weeks of gestation, in a victory for abortion rights groups, which sued to have the procedure removed from the penal code.
The decision adds Colombia to a list of Latin American countries that have recently liberalized abortion access, including Mexico and Ecuador.
Abortion was partially legalized in Colombia under a 2006 court decision that allowed it only in cases of rape, fatal fetal deformity and health of the woman, without any time limits.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Under Monday’s ruling, backed by five of nine judges, women will not be prosecuted for seeking abortions up to 24 weeks of gestation, after which the procedure will only be allowed under the original three conditions.
“The practice of abortion will only be punishable when it is conducted after the twenty-fourth week of gestation and, in all cases, this time limit will not apply to the three conditions laid out in Ruling C-355 of 2006,” the court said in a statement.
Congress and the national government must urgently implement policies to protect the rights of pregnant women, the court’s statement added, including family planning services, eliminating obstacles to abortion care and help with adoptions.
Photo: AFP
The Causa Justa coalition, which sued for decriminalization in September 2020, estimates that about 90 percent of abortions in the country take place clandestinely, putting women’s lives at risk as they seek dangerous alternatives to seeing a doctor.
“We did it,” the coalition, which is made up of more than 90 feminist organizations, said on its Twitter account.
Its supporters, many sporting green to represent the abortion rights movement and some crying, celebrated outside the court.
Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion last year, while Ecuador’s National Assembly last week approved regulations to allow access to abortion in cases of rape.
Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric has vowed to make the procedure freely available, as it is in Argentina and Uruguay under certain time limits.
Abortion rights advocates said the decision was not the end of their fight for full legalization.
“We hope that the next step for Colombia will be the total decriminalization of abortion, in order to protect women’s reproductive autonomy at all times,” Nancy Northup, president of the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.
The coalition argued in its suit that prosecutions of women and girls who sought or obtained abortions have worsened stigma, and scared doctors and patients, even in cases when one of the three legal conditions has applied.
Decriminalization would reduce deaths from clandestine procedures, save the underfunded health system money, end expensive prosecutions and guarantee women’s bodily autonomy, Causa Justa said.
About 350 women were convicted or sanctioned for abortions between the 2006 ruling and mid-2019, including at least 80 girls under the age of 18, it said.
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