Ecuador abortion: Terminations in cases of rape decriminalised

With seven votes in favor, the Constitutional Court declared articles 149 and 150 of the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code (COIP) unconstitutional, which penalized women who decided to have an abortion as a result of rape.

Feminist and human rights organizations came to demand the decriminalization of abortion for rape. “Girls are not mothers,” recall the protesters.

“Seven girls, there are seven girls who are forced to give birth daily. The fact that women who do not have a mental disability cannot access a safe, legal and free abortion constitutes discriminatory treatment, ”said Angie Cabrera, from the Human Rights Center of the International University.

There are six lawsuits that have been filed in the Constitutional Court on behalf of various organizations and the Ombudsman’s Office.

Ana Vera, from Surkuna, explained that the nine constitutional judges will analyze the draft sentence prepared by the rapporteur judge, Karla Andrade Quevedo. The Plenary must decide whether or not it is unconstitutional to penalize abortion for rape. “We hope that justice will be done today for women and girls who are victims and survivors of sexual violence. May this country stop torturing us, stop subjecting us to forced maternity hospitals as a result of violence, ”she emphasized.

The Constitutional Court has been in session from 10:00 am on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Among the items on the agenda, they included reviewing the lawsuit for unconstitutionality of article 149 and 150 of the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP), referring to punishable abortion and consensual abortion.

Article 149 typifies consensual abortion and establishes that “the person who causes an abortion to a woman who has consented to it will be punished with a custodial sentence of one to three years” and “the woman who causes her abortion or allows another it causes it, it will be sanctioned with imprisonment of six months to two years ”.

While article 150 indicates the cases in which abortion is not punishable: 1. If it has been practiced to avoid a danger to the life or health of the pregnant woman and if this danger cannot be avoided by other means. 2. If the pregnancy is the consequence of rape in a woman with a mental disability.

Vera hopes that the Court will include short deadlines in this process. In case they declare the unconstitutionality, she must go to the Assembly so that they carry out the reform of the COIP. “It is an urgent matter because every day girls and women die from clandestine abortions and, even more serious, they go to jail,” she criticized.

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