Despite intense pressure by Catholic and Evangelic church groups, the Chamber of Deputies again voted against eliminating from the Penal Code three exceptions to the ban on abortion in the Dominican Republic. The 84 deputies voted to reject the recommendations made by the Chamber of Deputies commission that had studied the bill that had been amended in the Senate to exclude the exceptions in the cases of incest, rape and malformation of the fetus. 63 deputies voted to pass the Penal Code without the exceptions. Of the 161 deputies present, 14 abstained from voting.
The Chamber of Deputies commission had recommended accepting the elimination of the abortion exceptions made by the Senate to no longer delay the passing of the revised Penal Code that has been debated for more than 20 years in the National Congress.
Opposition deputy Gloria Reyes of the PRM celebrated that the deputies had voted to save women, rather than to save the Penal Code.
The Penal Code had been vetoed on two occasions by President Danilo Medina. Medina backs including the exceptions to abortion. Medical societies and women groups have lead the campaign to pass the Penal Code with the abortion ban exceptions.
The bill now will have to be resubmitted in the new legislature that opens as of 16 August 2017, and will need to again be reviewed in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
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Diario Libre
12 July 2017
