May 10, 2022
JOHN OTIS
BOGOTA, Colombia — As some U.S. states place more restrictions on abortion and Americans brace for the possibility that the Supreme Court will soon overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the procedure, several Latin American countries have moved in the opposite direction.
The latest nation to do so was Colombia. On Feb. 21, Colombia's Constitutional Court legalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
March 30, 2022
(4-minute podcast with transcript)
JOHN OTIS
Colombia approved some of the most liberal abortion laws in the Americas in February. The decision has provoked a backlash from anti-abortion groups.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
As some states in the U.S. have restricted access to abortion, several Latin American countries have moved in the opposite direction. The latest was Colombia, where the Constitutional Court in February approved some of the most liberal abortion laws in the Americas. Reporter John Otis retraces the country's course on this issue. And just a note - this story begins with some disturbing imagery.
As the United States faces growing restrictions on abortion, activists in Latin America are increasingly relying on one another to knock down barriers in the region.
By Julie Turkewitz, New York Times
Feb. 23, 2022
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Decades of grass roots organizing, with meetings in living rooms and in the streets, online and across borders, have produced a tectonic shift on abortion in Latin America, a historically conservative region where access to the procedure has long been severely limited.
In just over a year, Colombia has joined Mexico and Argentina in knocking down barriers to abortion. It’s all the more striking in contrast to the shift taking place in the United States, the country whose Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to abortion — Roe v. Wade — had been a seminal spark for many activists in Latin America.
Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/world/americas/colombia-abortion.html
By Astrid Suarez, The Associated Press
Wed., Feb. 23, 2022
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — From the first day of her pregnancy, the Colombian woman was fainting. Then she started to vomit constantly and had two blood clots. Her health wasn’t going well, nor was her baby’s, so she chose to get an abortion.
But the woman, an engineer from Bogota, had to wait almost six months as a team of doctors and psychologists at her public health care provider debated whether a risk to her health made her eligible for the procedure. At the time, the law in Colombia called on doctors to make a decision within five days of abortion requests.
February 28, 2021
Ana Fadul
Bogotá, Colombia – Abortion is a polarizing topic in Colombia, where it is against the law in most cases, but the legalization of the procedure in another South American nation has women’s rights activists here also hoping for a change.
In late December, Argentinian lawmakers voted 38 to 29 to make abortion legal until the 14th week of pregnancy. It was the first Latin American nation to fully legalize abortion, leading advocates to hope the decision will create a wave throughout the continent.
Continued: https://youthjournalism.org/activists-hope-colombia-follows-argentinas-lead-on-reproductive-rights/
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.
Abortion access will not expand in Colombia, court rules
Colombian court shuts down landmark abortion case, but renews debate on legalisation, women's rights activists say.
by Megan Janetsky
Mar 2, 2020
Bogota - Colombia's Constitutional Court shut down a landmark abortion case on Monday that divided the South American country and offered what experts called an opportunity to "set a precedent for the region".
For 14 years, Colombian law allowed for abortions under three circumstances: if the mother's life was endangered, if the pregnancy was a product of rape or if the fetus is fatally deformed.
Colombia court poised to make historic abortion ruling
Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation
February 24, 2020
BOGOTA, Feb 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A top court in Colombia is set to rule on whether women can seek legal abortions during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, a highly anticipated decision in a region with some of the world’s strictest reproductive rights laws.
Abortion in Colombia is only allowed if a mother’s life is at risk, if a fetus is malformed or if the pregnancy is a result of rape.
Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/colombia-court-poised-to-make-historic-abortion-ruling
Duque opposes legalization of abortion in Colombia
Issued on: 19/02/2020
Bogota (AFP)
Colombia's conservative President Ivan Duque questioned on Wednesday whether his country was ready to fully legalize abortion ahead of a debate in the Constitutional Court on whether to allow the practice in the first three months of a pregnancy.
Currently, like much of Latin America, Colombia allows abortion in three cases: a risk to the mother's life, if the fetus has a deformity and if the pregnancy was a result of rape.
Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/20200219-duque-opposes-legalization-of-abortion-in-colombia
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