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The demonstration, in which some 50 women participated, occurs eleven days after 91 social organizations and 134 activists filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court to eliminate the crime of abortion from the Penal Code for “violating the fundamental rights of women and of health personnel “.
“We are demonstrating for the right to decide, because we have the ability to decide about our bodies, our ovaries, whether or not we want to have a daughter or son,” said Andrea, one of the women who participated in the protest.
The three reasons for which abortion is allowed in Colombia are that the pregnancy puts the life or health of the woman at risk; when pregnancy is the product of rape or incest, and in cases of serious fetal malformations incompatible with extrauterine life.
These grounds were approved in 2006 by the Constitutional Court and ratified by the same court in 2018.
Covered graffiti
During the demonstration, feminist groups covered a graffiti that had been put up this week by anti-abortion movements and said “Colombia is pro-life.”
That image was replaced by a new graffiti whose main message was “It will be law”, in reference to the demand that the high court must study, as well as other phrases such as “Free abortion”, “We are the cry of those who there are “and” Patriarchy and capital, criminal alliance. ”
“We are saying ‘here we are’, ‘we are together’, we are to support each other and to shout that we are the owners and we are capable of deciding on our bodies,” said Andrea.
Lawsuit to decriminalize abortion
The Just Cause Movement, which groups together the social organizations and activists who sued, is asking the Court to declare Article 122 of the Penal Code unconstitutional, which establishes abortion as a crime.
It considers that this provision is unfair to women because it violates them fundamental rights such as health, equality and freedom.
For the NGO Women’s Link, the grounds that were approved in 2006 represented a “milestone in Latin America and the Caribbean”, but that has not prevented the persistence of “structural barriers that hinder in practice access to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy service (IVE) “.
“Penalty is the main barrier from which the others come off. Women in Colombia continue to face the risk of being prosecuted, going to jail, or being subjected to discrimination and stigma when they seek access. to serve safely, largely due to the fact that abortion continues to exist as a crime in the Penal Code, “the NGO added.
Along these lines, Andrea said that they promote decriminalization so that “all girls anywhere” can have an abortion and to open a way so that “people with the ability to gestate who are on the margins of Colombia can also abort and have the access to information”.
“There is no access to information. They tell you that there are three causes, but they do not tell you that the health cause also involves your mental health. We also want to reach these girls who are in violent contexts, in families that are often super violent, and forced to give birth, which is extremely violent because no one is forced to be a mother, “added the woman.
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