The Chamber of Deputies will rethink on 13 June 2017 its vote to maintain exceptions to the ban on abortion in the cases of malformation of the fetus, incest and rape, and when the mother’s life is in danger. The Senate had eliminated the first three cases causing the President Danilo Medina to veto it for a second time. The bill would return to the Senate where the senators confirmed their vote against the exceptions.
The bill now passes to the Chamber of Deputies where the deputies need to confirm or reject the changes incorporated by the senators.
Gustavo Sanchez, spokesman for the ruling PLD party in the Chamber of Deputies, says it is likely the deputies will reinstate the changes. “We cannot only protect wealthy women, the woman who can take a plan to get an abortion abroad, when the poor woman can’t,” he observed.
Recently, the director of the National Council for Prevention of HIV/AIDS, Dr. Victor Manuel Terreno says that the senate amendments shows the disdain senators have for women. He lamented the amendment and says it would have negative repercussions in the country if passed. He said more women will continue to die. An estimated 75,000 abortions are carried out every year in deplorable conditions.
As reported in El Dia, if the deputies vote against the senators, then the Penal Code revision will need to be submitted once more in a different legislature.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
MetroRD
13 June 2017
