Colombia has decriminalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy in a historic victory for women’s rights and reproductive rights in Latin America.
In a five against four ruling, Colombia’s constitutional court legalized the procedure on Monday evening following a series of rulings in Latin American countries Mexico and Argentina that lowered the barriers to abortions.
Before the landmark ruling, abortions were only allowed in Colombia under specific circumstances: If there was a risk to the life or health of the pregnant mother, when there were life-threatening fetal malformations, or when the pregnancy was formed by rape, incest, or non-consensual artificial insemination.
Women’s rights advocates and experts celebrated the ruling, saying that it was a historic victory for the women’s movement in Colombia. Americas Director at Amnesty International Erika Guevara-Rosas said in a statement that the women’s movement has fought for decades for the recognition of their rights and that people able to bear children are the only and exclusive people who should be making decisions about their own bodies.
Guervara-Rosas said this means the Colombian authorities will have to recognize women’s autonomy over their bodies and life plans rather than punishing them.
The abortion rights movement is known collectively as the Green Wave in Colombia. The groups sued to have abortion removed from the penal code. The court decided several times previously not to rule on the matter over the past two years.
It is estimated that 400,000 abortions are carried out every year in the country, with a mere 10 percent being legal procedures.
Latin America is a traditionally conservative region, and the Catholic and evangelical Christian lobbies are extremely powerful. Abortion laws there are some of the most restrictive in the world, with the procedure often banned completely.
Mexico decriminalized abortion last year, and last week in Ecuador the parliamentarians eased regulations to allow access to abortion in cases of rape. But there is a long way to go in the region, advocates and human rights fighters say.
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