Abortion giant Planned Parenthood has called for celebration after Colombia’s high court legalized abortion Monday, the latest Latin American country to decriminalize the practice.
On its Facebook page, Profamilia Colombia — the name of Planned Parenthood in the country — urged its followers to celebrate the “historic” step in guaranteeing sexual and reproductive rights of “women and gestating persons.”
Planned Parenthood, which boasts 46 clinics in 36 Colombian cities, had been vigorously campaigning for the legalization of abortion under the slogan “Aborto sí!” calling the measure a sign of progress.
On Monday, judges on Colombia’s constitutional court ruled in a 5-4 vote to decriminalize abortion until 24 weeks of gestation, adding Colombia to the Latin American countries that have recently liberalized abortion access, including Mexico, Argentina, and Ecuador.
After 24 weeks, women may continue to abort their children only in cases of rape or incest, life-threatening fetal deformities, or a danger to the mother’s health.
“The practice of abortion will only be punishable when it is conducted after the twenty-fourth week of gestation and, in all cases, this time limit will not apply to the three conditions laid out in Ruling C-355 of 2006,” the court said in a statement.
The decision follows a lawsuit brought by abortion rights groups, known collectively as the Green Wave, to have abortion removed from the penal code.
“While today we are celebrating this historic decision, the Green Wave is strong and growing, and the fight for reproductive rights and justice will not end until every person can access high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare when and where they need it,” Eugenia Lopez Uribe, the International Planned Parenthood Foundation’s regional director for the Americas and the Caribbean region, said in a statement.
The Catholic Episcopal Conference of Colombia issued a statement Tuesday, expressing its “perplexity and profound sorrow” over the decision.
“To maintain that the Constitutionally protected right to life and to receive the protection of the State, does not protect a person from the moment of his conception, is an affront to human dignity,” the bishops said. “Likewise, protecting the supposed right to suppress an innocent human life jeopardizes the very foundation of our social order and the rule of law.”
“Direct abortion is an immoral act and a violent practice contrary to life,” they asserted.