Ecuadorian President partially rejects laws regulating access to rape abortions

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

In a letter posted on Twitter, the Conservative President wrote that he “decided to comment on the bill in order to fully comply with the decision of the Constitutional Court.”

The opposing majority legislator must decide whether to accept the 30-day government amendment or approve the original document on February 18.

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

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

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

In Ecuador, women who quit 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 “would affect only the poorest and most forgotten people, causing the illegal death of our women.”

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

According to official figures, Ecuador has the third highest teenage pregnancy rate among girls and adolescents in Latin America, with seven children under the age of 14 giving 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 the abortion,” said the former right-wing banker Lasso in a letter.

For example, the sovereign 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 submit a report of rape.

The Surkuna feminist group claims that, according to prosecutors, there were about 42,000 reports of rape 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 abortion laws. Through this rule, Tamara Tarasik Bronner, director of the US Human Rights Watch organization, said that the president had the opportunity and responsibility to “keep the promise of a campaign to respect the rule of law.”

PLD/CJC