After the decision of the Constitutional Court to allow women to interrupt their pregnancy until the 24th week of gestation, the Foreign Minister and Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez referred to the issue one day after the historic ruling.
In an interview with W Radio, Ramírez stated that despite always defend the rights of women, respects but does not share the decision of the high court. The vice president commented that the ruling, more than having legal loopholes, has underlying ethical problems. “A baby at six months he is already a formed person. Rather than decriminalize, it legitimizes abortion.”
He also added that legalizing abortion generates great concern in the country. In addition to creating a risk for women who decide to have the procedure, “now we run the risk that open a lot of places to perform abortions, without meeting conditions. We must not force any doctor or health center to perform abortions. Surely they will not find organized sites or large clinics that perform abortions,” concluded.
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Figures from the Ministry of Health in Colombia show that 33% of women who undergo clandestine abortions suffer complications that require medical attention, but the rate of complications reaches 53% in poor women in rural areas. These abortions cause around 70 deaths a year in the country, according to figures from the same portfolio.
According to The New York Times, prosecutors in Colombia open some 400 cases each year against women who have had clandestine abortions or against those who help them. At least 346 people have been sentenced in such cases since 2006.
For her part, the national government official pointed out that the behaviors that should be punished and sanctioned are those in which women are forced to have sex without any type of protection, “an effort must be made to educate, intense work so that there is much more protection for women and to prevent abortion”.
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In her communication with the station, the official expressed her concern that Colombia could become a paradise for many people to have an abortion, “allowing a limit of 24 weeks, six months, is something never seen before. I feel a lot of pain. Not even the most liberal or progressive countriesthey have such a large limit,” he said.
And it is that the vice president stressed again that, “we do not have the right to decide for the life of a person, that it is 24 weeks does not make it less human. I know many children who are born at six months and They develop very well in adult life.
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The National Institute of Health noted that prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of five, and preterm birth rates are on the rise. Currently, prematurity in Colombia is considered as a determinant of mortality and morbidity of newborns and It is considered a public health problem.
To conclude, the vice president and chancellor emphasized that instead of regulating the practice of abortion, what should be done is persecuting and prosecuting men who force women to have sex without their consent. “When we talk about rights for women, we say that they can choose to have sex with whoever they want, a right of women is to have sex while protecting themselves,” she concluded.
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