Colombia’s Conservative Party announced Wednesday that it will pursue a constitutional reform, endorsed by the Catholic Church, to make abortion illegal in all cases, reports El Espectador.
The party’s new president announced that in March, the Conservatives will seek to overturn the 2006 Constitutional Court ruling that made terminations legal if the fetus has severe deformities, the pregnancy engenders the life of the mother, or was the result of rape.
“It is not an unborn baby’s fault if it was the result of rape or had a deformation,” said party President Jose Dario Salazar. “Colombian society is Catholic and Christian, and because of this we’re going to reform the constitution.”
The Conservative said that the right to life must be protected from conception to death, and said claims that the current law permitting abortions in select cases is being abused.
Between 2006 and 2009, 61% of all abortions performed in Colombia were attributed to fetal abnormality. Twenty percent were due to risk to the life of the woman in question, while rape or incest was cited in over 18% of cases.
All clinics are required by law to safeguard the right to abortion, by referring patients to another institution if they lack doctors willing to perform the procedure, but this is not always enforced.