A congresswoman from the left-wing Polo Democratico party filed a legislative act Monday that would make abortion a constitutional right.
The act would allow abortion in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or when the pregnancy poses a serious health risk to the mother or child. Abortions in these instances have been legal since 2005, but religious leaders and conservative politicians regularly seek to ban the practice entirely. In February, the Constitutional Court reaffirmed the right of women to terminate pregnancies under the predetermined conditions.
“By making the right [of abortion] a constitutional one, we want to eliminate any doubts that women can obtain abortions without facing imprisonment of one to three years,” said Polo Democratic representative Alba Luz Pinilla in a press release.
Pinilla plans to promote an initiative to speed up the preliminary process women go through before they can obtain an abortion, as well as eliminate excuses used by health insurance companies use to not terminate pregnancies in the cases allowed by law.