The paradox of abortion

Worldwide, each year "approximately 47,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes, of which 13% die as a result of unsafe abortions. The Ministry of Health has stated that "maternal mortality per 100,000 live births due to unsafe abortion is usually higher in countries with significant restrictions and lower in countries where abortion is available on-demand or under general conditions. 

The feminist movement in Colombia succeeded in effecting a legal change. This implied that, by defining and presenting their demands in legal terms, new concepts and constitutional interpretations were produced that were incorporated by the Constitutional Court in Ruling C-355 of 2006. This ruling evaluates the constitutionality of Article 122 of the Criminal Code, which establishes abortion as a crime. Finally, it declares the right to abortion in three cases and the aforementioned article to be constitutional. 

The voluntary interruption of pregnancy is a human right, to which all women should have access. However, in some jurisdictions such as Colombia, abortion finds the dichotomy between being a right and a crime. Thus, it creates a great barrier for women to make effective use of their reproductive rights, generating irremediable damages to their rights to life and health. Therefore, when faced with the health system's refusal to perform a termination of pregnancy, women must resort to unsafe abortions. Making clear how the law can have positive and negative effects on the health of populations. Next, we will explain how the classification of abortion has generated a barrier in access to reproductive rights, given the conception that women and health professionals have of them. In the first place, society's conception of abortion is one of the greatest barriers that women face in accessing this human right. The fact that it is established as a deviant and unaccepted behavior leads to women not accessing this medical service for fear of feeling and being seen as criminals.  

However, the criminalization of abortion does not only affect women's perception of it. It also affects the opinion of health professionals who are trained to perform this procedure. Consequently, doctors refuse to terminate the pregnancies of women who come to them because of the stigmatization of abortion as a crime. Thus, generating a second barrier in the access to the right, for those women who have decided to interrupt their pregnancy. For example, in the case of LC v. Peru, a minor who was sexually abused was denied spinal surgery (following a suicide attempt) because it would affect her pregnancy. Despite her mother's request for an abortion, health professionals refused because of their fear of criminal prosecution. In other words, medical personnel often refuse to perform an abortion for fear that they will be investigated by the Prosecutor's Office or that society will label them as criminals. 

The refusal of medical personnel to perform a termination of pregnancy has irreparable effects on women's lives. Those who have decided to have an abortion, faced with the refusal of the health system, resort to unsafe abortions. According to the study "Prevention of unsafe abortion in Colombia", by the Ministry of Health, about 47,000 women die annually in the world due to clandestine abortions. Of these women, 1,120 cases correspond to Latin America and the Caribbean and 70 to Colombia.

In conclusion, in our country women must face the fact that a human right, which should be guaranteed in all cases, ends up being a crime that prevents them from effectively enjoying their reproductive rights, and even leads them to end up with criminal proceedings or in prison. Furthermore, it seriously jeopardizes their rights to life and health. Because of the barriers in the health care system, women choose to have unsafe abortions. This often results in their death or serious physical harm. This allows us to see how one of the causes of death for women is preventable, but not attacked by our regulatory systems.