Ecuadorian President Partially Rejects Law Regulating Access to Rape Abortion

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso partially rejected a law regulating voluntary abortion for 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 he “decided to comment on the bill to ensure full compliance with the decision of the Constitutional Court.”

The legislature with a majority of opposition must decide whether to accept the 30-day government amendment or approve the original document on February 18.

The National Assembly states in the law that women under the age of 18 who live in raped rural areas can have an abortion within 18 weeks of pregnancy, and adults and people in urban areas can have an abortion within 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The lasso was enacted as the only veto period during the 12 weeks of pregnancy, and before the Constitution it was argued that “we are all the same” and that “discriminating against citizens based on the conditions of their place of birth or origin is fundamental.” principles.

Last April, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador expanded access to abortion in a rape case; until this decision was made, only women with disabilities or at risk of death could voluntarily terminate their pregnancy.

In Ecuador, women who stop for unacceptable reasons are sentenced to up to two years in prison.

- “Painful reality” -

Johanna Morella, a member of the Democratic Left Party that announced the bill, tweeted that the short deadline “will affect only the poorest and most forgotten, causing our women to die in hiding.”

“President @LassoGuillermo exercised a partial veto, but he didn't understand the painful reality that our girls live every day.”

According to official data, Ecuador has the third highest teenage pregnancy rate among girls and adolescents in Latin America, and seven children under the age of 14 give birth every day.

The rulers who did not agree with the law left 61 comments on the document, which included the honest opposition of health workers and the need for abortion in case of rape.

“The Constitutional Court explicitly ordered the legislature to request an abortion in a rape case, but Congress actually withdrew it,” said the former right-wing banker Lasso in a letter.

For example, the ruler stated in a document sent to the National Assembly that the law “does not provide for the obligation to conduct medical examinations of victims and protect their health, and does not collect evidence for criminal investigations.”

One of the demands of the lasso was to file a rape complaint.

The feminist group Surkuna claims that, according to prosecutors, there were about 42,000 rape complaints between August 2014 and November 2021.

If the rape case did not change last week, the US House of Representatives asked the lasso to enact a law on abortion. Through this rule, Tamara Tarasik Bronner, director of the US Human Rights Watch organization, said the president had the opportunity and responsibility to “live up to the promise of a campaign to respect the rule of law.”

PLD/CJC