Abortion Ban Lifted

    For about two decades, feminist in Colombia have created movements in order to lift the abortion ban. Fortunately, on February 22, 2022 Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled in favor of decriminalizing abortions up to 24 weeks. Colombia is now the latest Latin American country to legalize abortion. Celebration took over the capital as many marched and cheered in the streets. A fight that took years and years to  even become a consideration is now possible. Before, abortion was only allowed under three different circumstances: if the women's health or life was at risk, if the fetus had a condition that resulted in it being nonviable, and if pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. However, these rules still apply to those that seek abortion after 24 weeks. 

    Before the decriminalization was granted, women who wanted an abortion without being under the three circumstances would face jail time of about 54 months. The Colombian Penal Code state that depending on the lengths the women went through to achieve the abortion the jail sentence can be more than 54 months. Although these jail sentences rarely occurred, the criminalization created an environment full of fear and hostility. Women were scared to talk to medical professionals and would use clandestine abortions, this resulted in many deaths due to the danger that these abortions presented such as the lack of sterile instruments and aggressive and invasive procedures. Medical professionals were also living in fear, they would report any suspicious activity they saw our of fear of participating in a crime and would not want to be involved. Even the women who met the criteria to receive an abortion would fear going through with the procedure because of the challenges she would face with constant investigation and having to be constantly monitored by medical professionals. 

    Colombia, as well as many other Latin American country, hold strong Catholic values and beliefs, especially within their government system. However, Latin American countries can be very competitive with one another or easily influenced from one another. In September, Mexico ruled that penalizing abortions was unconstitutional and in December of  2020, Argentina legalized abortions up to 14 weeks with no other restrictions. Colombia's constitutional court took this into consideration when coming to a final decision. 

    When it comes banning or criminalizing abortions, this is a form of controlling women's bodies. It is super easy to point the finger and say how it is a sin or that it is killing a child but there is a bigger reasoning behind this. Men see this as a form of power to make women subordinates. These government systems are mostly made up of men. Now my questions are do these men really want to achieve power over women or do they want to show that they hold the most power in comparison to their neighboring countries? Or do these men just blatantly hate women and strip them of their freedoms and human rights? If they do hate women so much, why do they hate them?

Citation:

"Colombia Abortion Laws: Colombia Becomes Latest Latin American ." https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/americas/colombia-decriminalize-abortion-intl/index.html

(February 24, 2022)