Colombia’s Senate President stated Friday that he “is absolutely certain that abortion is not a crime.”
Newspaper El Espectador posted the taped interview of Senator Roy Barreras who went on to say, “the crime of abortion that is now in the Criminal Code is not only outdated and unfair to many women, but highly improbable.”
The Senate President of the more conservative U Party affirmed on his own website that he hopes “abortion in all cases, will not be penalized in Colombia.”
Barreras’ comments caught on video clearly support his stance on the legalization of abortion, which is currently only allowed in Colombia in cases of rape, danger to the mother’s life, or in the case that the child will be born with severe defects.
His opinion not only as a Senator, but as a physician, is that there is a clear difference between early embryonic stages and fetal gestation, therefore medically supporting abortion in the early stages of pregnancy.
Many of the opposing arguments against abortion are religiously based, something that Barreras indicates should not be considered since “there are millions of Colombians that have other religious beliefs that we should respect.”
Although many congress members have come forward in support of decriminalizing abortion, there are also staunch defenders of the current law which prevent abortion except in the three fore-mentioned cases.