The three grounds for exceptions to the banning of abortion in the Dominican Republic are a trending topic as the country celebrated International Day of Women on 8 March 2021. Protest groups have urged Congress to include the three grounds in the Penal Code. The Chamber of Deputies president Alfredo Pacheco (National District -PRM) has instead favored a separate bill drafted for the three exceptions. Yet, women groups advocate that the criminalizing of abortion first needs to be removed from the Penal Code that is being reviewed in Congress.
Deputy Héctor Féliz, who is the president of the Special Commission of the Chamber of Deputies that is studying the bill that would establish the three grounds for the interruption of pregnancy, warned that there are no longer conditions or time to include the exceptions in the Penal Code bill, as demanded by feminist groups. He said the legislators have agreed to take the issue of the exceptions to public hearings, when all sectors can participate in the debates. He said that there is consensus to remove the three causes from the Penal Code. “We cannot leave the Penal Code at a standstill. If the three causes are included in the Code, there will be no Penal Code”, he said.
The three grounds are:
• The life of the mother is at risk.
• The fetus is unviable.
• The pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
Senator Faride Raful (National District-PRM) called for the deputies to remove the criminalizing of abortion from the Penal Code if the legislators insist on sending a separate bill on the three grounds. She insisted if the legislators want a special bill, they need to first eliminate the mention of abortion in the Penal Code.
On occasion of Intertional Women’s Day, the Gender Institute at Intec university in Santo Domingo issued a statement advocating for the passing of the three grounds for voluntary interruption of pregnancy and other measures in favor of women’s rights. The statement goes a step beyond and demands human rights of women to make their own decisions.
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INTEC
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El Nuevo Diario
El Nuevo Diario
8 March 2021