by RAUL PIERRI
(IPS) – The Uruguayan Congress passed a law Wednesday decriminalising abortion, making it one of the few countries in the region where abortion is allowed in cases other than rape, incest, malformation of the fetus or danger to the mother’s life. But activists who backed the bill are not pleased with modifications introduced in the final version.
“We see this law as minimal; it is not what we were hoping for,” Martha Aguñín, spokeswoman for Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (MYSU – Women and Health in Uruguay), told IPS.
“It has many gaps, and satisfies no one,” added Aguñín, whose non-governmental organisation is leading the campaign “Legal Abortion – Uruguay; They are your rights, demand that they be respected!”
The law decriminalises abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. But it will only be permitted in cases in which the pregnant woman complies with certain requisites.
Under the bill approved by the Senate Wednesday, which is set to be signed into law by President José Mujica, the woman seeking an abortion must first explain to a doctor the “economic, social, family or age difficulties that in her view stand in the way of continuing the pregnancy.”
The doctor will immediately refer her to an interdisciplinary panel made up of at least three professionals: a gynaecologist, psychologist and social worker.
The panel will advise her on the content of the law, the risks posed by the procedure, and the alternatives to abortion, and she will be given five days to mull it over.
If she doesn’t change her mind after the five-day waiting period, she will be allowed to have an abortion, without any further necessary steps, in one of the country’s health clinics or hospitals.
But Aguñín criticised this system, saying the panels would act in practice as a sort of “tribunal” or court.
“When women make a decision of this kind, we don’t need to be instructed to reflect on it, because we already do that in a conscious, adult, responsible manner,” she said.
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