Colombia was close to legalizing abortion. Instead, a top court kept restrictions in place.

Colombia was close to legalizing abortion. Instead, a top court kept restrictions in place.

By Miriam Berger
March 3, 2020

Colombia’s constitutional court ruled Monday to keep the country’s abortion restrictions in place, dashing the hopes of activists pushing for a decision that could have made it the first and most populous state in Latin America to legalize abortions during the first 16 weeks of a pregnancy.

The decision “was a missed opportunity to stand on the right side of history to provide Colombian women and girls safe access to abortion,” human rights lawyer Paula Avila-Guillen said in a statement. She described the current law as “poorly regulated and rarely implemented,” such that for “women who have been victims of sexual abuse or face economic barriers, access to abortion is almost impossible, which puts their lives at risk.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/03/colombia-was-close-legalizing-abortion-instead-top-court-kept-restrictions-place/


An Anti-Abortion Activist Tried to Make Colombia’s Abortion Law More Restrictive. Here’s Why That Could Backfire

An Anti-Abortion Activist Tried to Make Colombia's Abortion Law More Restrictive. Here's Why That Could Backfire

By Ciara Nugent
February 19, 2020

A case brought to Colombia’s top court by anti-abortion campaigner Natalia Bernal Cano could transform the country’s abortion law when the verdict is announced in the next few weeks – but perhaps not in the way she hoped.

Since a 2006 ruling by Colombia’s powerful Constitutional Court, women have been allowed to terminate a pregnancy in cases of rape or incest, fatal fetal abnormality, or danger to the physical or mental health of the mother.

Continued: https://time.com/5786500/colombia-abortion-ruling/