The campaign by the Catholic and Evangelical Christian churches for the National Congress to reject the observations made by President Danilo Medina to the Penal Code regarding abortion could be the trigger that led Chamber of Deputies president Abel Martinez to convene the legislators for a session today, Thursday 11 December 2014. During this urgent meeting, set for 11 am, the deputies will review the observations, and either reject or accept the Executive Branch recommendations to permit abortions in exceptional cases.
The spokesman for the PLD block of deputies, Ruben Maldonado, told Diario Libre reporters that in this session they will deal with “important proposals,” and that the Penal Code could be one of them.
“We will meet tomorrow (the PLD block) and we will take the decisions that have to be taken. What I can tell you is that Ruben Maldonado supports the decision of the President of the Republic,” he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Permanent Commission of Justice, Demostenes Martinez, did not say if the vetoed Penal Code is on the agenda.
The PRSC is against any changes. “We are going to reject them (the observations). We feel that these observations were poorly made with regard to the fact that they did not comply with the Constitution in their writing, and in case that they want to discuss and come out in favor or and rejection, we feel that they have to be rejected,” stated deputy Ramon Rogelio Genao.