Activists clash over possible decriminalization of abortion in Colombia

Groups for and against abortion clashed outside the headquarters of the constitutional court that analyzes the decriminalization of this practice in Colombia.

A hundred people gathered in front of the Constitutional Court building in downtown Bogotá to harangue the judges who are preparing to issue a momentous sentence.

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In 2006, the Colombian justice approved the interruption of pregnancy in case of rape, malformation of the fetus with risk to its survival or if the life of the mother is in danger.

Outside of these exceptions, abortion is punishable by imprisonment from 16 to 54 months in jail.

Mostly made up of women, groups identified with green garments shouted “yes, yes, yes to abortion” and posed with posters that claimed: “Neither prisoner for abortion, nor dead for trying!”

“We come together to ask the Constitutional Court that it is time for criminal law to stop being the way to regulate abortion,” Valeria Pedraza, a lawyer who asks to stop “criminalizing” women who abort.

In front of them, groups called “pro-life”, distinguished with the light blue color, launched slogans such as “let them beat.” On that side, some women prayed kneeling and with rosaries.

People demonstrate in front of the constitutional court of Colombia against the elimination of abortion from the penal code, in Bogotá, Colombia. (Photo: REUTERS / Luisa Gonzalez). (LUISA GONZALEZ /)

Andrea Barreto, who had a blue scarf on her head, claimed that “the Court is exceeding its limits” because “the right to life is inviolable.”

The court should make a decision in principle until this Friday. The eventual decriminalization will undoubtedly remove a country that is traditionally conservative and where the Catholic Church and evangelicals exert a strong influence.

The judges are studying a lawsuit for the unconstitutionality of the crime of abortion filed by the Causa Justa movement, made up of social, academic, health and activist organizations.

According to information collected by that entity, since 1998 around 5,500 investigations have been initiated for abortion and some 250 women have been convicted since 2005. Twenty-four of them are behind bars, according to the prison authority.

Women report all kinds of obstacles to access the procedure even under the three causes allowed since 2006.

Collective detractors of abortion and religious groups have rejected on different occasions the flexibility of access to abortion.

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