Colombia-based lawyer Mariana Ardila, who works for Women’s Link, said of the move:“This is a historic decision not only for Colombia, but for all Latin America, because it establishes abortion should be completely taken out of the criminal code. Hopefully other countries follow suit.”
Since the 2006 abortion ruling in Columbia, some 400 criminal cases a year have been opened over women seeking or receiving an abortion in the nation.
Without access to legal abortion, only 12% of the nearly 400,000 abortions in Colombia occur in official health centers. As a result, at least 70 women die every year undergoing an unsafe or unsanitary procedure.
Over the past year, Colombia has seen a shift in public opinion over abortion. In April 2021, only 36% of Colombians were against jailing women who sought an abortion. That figure now stands at 49%, as groups have continually pressured the government and courts to decriminalize the medical procedure.
“Now there will be civil health regulations, so women can have information, accompaniment, access to procedures and contraceptives instead of fearing criminal charges if they use the health system," Ardila noted.
The expansion of access to abortion by Colombia’s highest court continues the trend in predominantly Catholic countries in Latin America. In February, Chile, in their new Magna Carta, established abortion as a right. In September, 2021, Mexico deemed that laws criminalizing abortion are unconstitutional, while in 2020 abortion was legalized in Argentina.