Ecuadorian President Partially Rejects Law Regulating Access to Rape Abortion

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso partially rejected a law regulating voluntary abortion of victims of rape, reducing the termination of pregnancy for abused girls to 12 weeks.

In a letter posted on Twitter, the Conservative President wrote that “it was decided to include comments on the bill to ensure that it fully corresponds to the decision of the Constitutional Court.”

The legislature with the opposite majority must decide whether to accept the revision of the administration for 30 days or approve the original document on February 18.

In the law, the National Assembly stated that women who are victims of rape under the age of 18 and who live in rural areas can have abortions up to 18 weeks of pregnancy, while adults and people in urban areas can have abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The lasso was enacted as the only term for the 12th week of pregnancy in the right of veto, and before the Constitution it was argued that “we are all the same” and that “establishing legal differences between citizens according to the conditions of their place of birth or origin is contrary to the basic principles.”

In April of last year, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador expanded access to abortion due to a rape case. Prior to this decision, only women with disabilities or at risk of death were allowed to voluntarily terminate their pregnancy.

In Ecuador, women who stop for reasons other than those allowed are sentenced to up to two years in prison.

- “Painful reality” -

The Democratic Left Party member Johanna Moreira, who announced the bill, said on Twitter that the short deadline “will affect only the poorest and most forgotten people, causing our women to lose their lives in hiding.”

“President @LassoGuillermo exercised a partial veto and did not understand the painful reality that our girls live every day.”

According to official data, seven children under the age of 14 give birth every day in Ecuador, the third Latin American country with the highest pregnancy rates among girls and adolescents.

The ruler who did not agree with the law gave 61 comments in the documentwhich included the honest opposition of health workers and the need for access to abortion in case of rape.

“The Constitutional Court explicitly ordered the legislature to establish requirements for access to abortion in rape cases, but the General Assembly practically gave up,” said the former right-wing banker Lasso in a letter.

In a document sent to the National Assembly, the ruler pointed out, for example, that the law “does not establish an obligation to conduct medical examinations of victims and protect the health of victims, and does not collect evidence for criminal investigations.”

One of the requirements put forward by the lasso is to file a rape complaint.

The feminist group Surkuna claimed that, according to the prosecutor's office, there were about 42,000 rape complaints between August 2014 and November 2021.

Last week, the US House of Representatives asked the lasso to enact a law on access to abortion if the rape did not change. Through this rule, Tamara Tarasiuk Bronner, director of Human Rights Watch America, said the president had the opportunity and responsibility to “fulfill the promise of a campaign to respect the rule of law.”

PLD/CJC