The director of Ethics and Government Integrity, former Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, says President Luis Abinader is pro-life. She says this means it is up to the woman to decide whether she wants to continue with a pregnancy or not, as reported in Listin Diario.
Her statements come at a time when the Chamber of Deputies, now under a majority of legislators of the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), has divorced itself from its previous position of backing that the three grounds for abortion be included in the Penal Code. The PRM bloc is now only conceding to include the ground that would not criminalize those participating in an abortion if the women’s lives were in danger.
“The president is pro-life. Life of the woman, it is up to her to decide, not to a code or a law,” Ortiz Bosch wrote in her Twitter account.
Both the groups that support the three grounds and different religious denominations have been protesting peacefully in front of the National Congress and the National Palace.
The three grounds are:
• The life of the mother is at risk.
• The fetus is unviable.
• The pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
In addition to the director of Ethics, the cause of the three exceptions for abortion has been championed by the Minister of Women Mayra Jimenez and the senator for the National District, Faride Raful.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
18 March 2021