Doctors obstruct legal abortions Susan Abad 2/4/2010 Women at risk as doctors refuse to terminate pregnancies, despite lifted ban.

Nearly four years since the Constitutional Court decriminalized abortion in certain cases, women still face challenges to receive the procedure as many doctors and even judges have improperly declared themselves conscientious objectors.

In May 2006, the court lifted a ban on abortion in the case that the mother´s life or mental or physical health is in jeopardy, if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or if the child has fetal malformations.

Ariadna Tovar, a lawyer with Women´s Link Worldwide, a gender equality advocacy group, says doctors or the health care providers they work for have collectively declared themselves conscientious objectors to the procedure.

Judges are doing the same, she says.

Under Colombian law, judges must verify if the case is rape or incest, or if there is a fetal malformation, but some judges refuse to even hear the cases, passing them on to other judges that may do the same, or, based on their personal or religious beliefs, simply deny the woman the right to voluntarily interrupt the pregnancy, she adds.

Decree suspended
Even though the blanket ban on abortion was lifted, goverment has created a legal void. In 2006, the gobernment issued a decree that regulated the abortion procedures according to the court´s ruling. However, the State Council, an administrative tribunal, suspended the decree, arguing abortion and other women´s health issues must be regulated by Congress and not the executive branch, creating confusion and a legislative black hole, said a spokesperson at the Social Protection Ministry who asked not to be named for lack of authorization to comment.

Last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that no judge could be a conscientious objector and refuse to hear an abortion case and that no health care service could refuse to performing abortions on the same grounds.

The court said, however, that the doctor who performs the abortion may object but must present their reasons in writing.

These abortions must be made available everywhere in Colombia, and the court called on the Education and Social Protection Ministries for a campaign promoting sexual and reproductive rights that informs women that abortion in Colombia has been decriminalized in these cases.

Solicitor General Alejandro Ordóñez, a staunch objector to abortion for religious reasons, asked to block the request for the educational campaign, arguing that Congress should decide about conscientious objection.

The Catholic Church has also led a strong opposition of conservative groups against the campaign, alleging it promotes abortion.

This lack of clear information for women has led to a further vulnerability of women´s fundamental rights, including health.

More obstacles
The extensive evidence requested by health care providers that qualifies women for abortion is sometimes seen as excessive and puts women in a race against time.

“They demand other evidence: medical board audits, more exams, when the only thing they need is a medical certificate,” said Tovar, adding that patients are often moved to another heath care center, dragging out the process as the pregnancy advances.

President of the private Colombian Association of Integral Medicine Companies, Juan Manuel Díaz, says that the its health care centers are following the Constitutional Court´s order to allow abortion in certain cases. “The decision must be made in the least time possible, given that after 16 weeks, the risks to the women are higher.”

According to official figures, 30,000 women die every year in Colombia from clandestine abortions. The Social Protection Ministry says that since the court´s 2006 ruling permitting abortions through 2009, 342 women have legally interrupted their pregnancies.

“The implementation (of the ruling) is gradual because it creates cultural changes and destroys myths,” said Tovar. “But there is a sector that is still reticent to accept sexual and reproductive rights in general. We are identifying obstacles, determining sources where they´re coming from and figuring out how to get rid of them.”

In November, the national health care regulator fined Coomeva, a health care provider, some US$92,000 for denying a voluntary abortion to a 13-year-old who had been raped. —Latinamerica Press.