A demonstration in Bogotá in favor of legal abortion, in 2020. Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda (EFE)
The Colombian Constitutional Court decriminalized abortion until the 24th week, but women continue to be victims of medical institutions that deny them the right to decide about their bodies.
While the feminist movements celebrated the historic decision on February 21, a 29-year-old mother of two children began to suffer from the bureaucracy and moralism of a medical institution that refused to attend to her desire to abort.
Juliana — her name is not that, but she prefers to use another name so as not to expose herself to accusations in a country that socially criminalizes the freedom of women who decide to end their pregnancy—, she sought help in a health system that denied her.
A court ended up giving him the reason.
The judicial document in which the case is resolved, and to which this newspaper had access, shows the obstacles that women face, even when the law is in their favor.
On February 19, three days after finding out about her condition —10 weeks pregnant— she requested an appointment at her health entity to begin the process to access the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVE).
She was determined, she did not want and could not have another child.
She already has two, she has no partner and no money either.
At that first medical appointment, she was seen virtually and told that she should speak with a social worker, a psychologist, and a gynecologist.
Although it was not so easy to achieve because she lives in a city far from Bogotá, where the health system is limited, she managed to get the first of the three specialists to attend to her on the 23rd of the same month.
Two days before,
According to the guardianship, the mechanism with which she judicially sought the protection of her rights, the woman who listened to her insisted that she think better of it, that she “lean on God”, that she consult with her family.
"Maybe her hormones make her so sensitive," the social worker told her, who saw her crying, desperate.
Four days later, she met the psychologist and the scene was repeated.
She insisted that he reflect on her decision.
In the clinical history there was the record of a recommendation from the specialist in which she said that she take into account relaxation practices to “manage her emotions”.
Of her desire not to want to be a mother again and of the reasons for rejecting her request, no annotation was left.
On March 3, when the news from the Constitutional Court had been making headlines for several days, the woman was seen by a gynecologist, to whom she explained what she had already said in previous medical appointments.
She did not want to continue with the pregnancy, she had no way of taking care of another child and she was going through a bad economic time.
“What you want is for us to help you kill your son here, we are not murderers here,” the doctor replied, remembering the ruling that resolved the case.
She was denied service.
On March 8, she consulted another doctor and the answer was the same.
Juliana, who already knew that the law protected her, argued that the Court's decision should guarantee her rights, but the health entity excused itself by pointing out that they had not been notified of the new regulations, which allow abortion without explanation and as soon as requested.
It is legal until week 24 and after this period three causes apply: rape, malformation of the fetus incompatible with life or risk to the woman's physical or mental health.
"[They told me] that I was not in the three grounds to be able to have an abortion, that the sentence had not reached them and that they could not schedule the termination of the pregnancy," says the woman in a voice message sent to one of the lawyers. her.
When several weeks of waiting had already passed and her pregnancy was already on its 14th, she took her case to court through a guardianship,
"The decision of the Constitutional Court had effects on his process because it was of immediate application and we saw it with a case that was carried out under the new parameters two days after the sentence was known in a private medical center," explains Viviana Bohórquez, a lawyer who legally accompanies the woman to whom the court agreed, recognizing that although the country is just in the process of socializing and adapting the new regulations, the Constitutional Court has been clear in informing that abortion is legal and must be guaranteed no need to justify anything.
Only the decision of the woman matters.
The court ordered the health entity to carry out the abortion within 48 hours and reiterated that "it cannot be overlooked that the longer the gestation that is intended to be interrupted progresses, the more traumatic and risky the procedure becomes." .
The court also noted that "the urgency and urgency that must accompany the steps to authorize and perform the service cannot be ignored."
The woman had to resort to a legal mechanism in order to access a right.
When the sentence ruled in her favor, at the end of March, her pregnancy was already at week 16.
“Health entities are not prepared to comply with the times needed for this type of request, which must be treated as medical emergencies.
They are not appointments that allow much waiting, but this change is going to take months and even years, especially since there are institutions that still do not know that the protocols have changed, that now it is the will of the women that matters and not the certificates based on the will of a doctor”, says the lawyer.
Now Juliana must decide, freely, if she interrupts her pregnancy six weeks later than she expected.
Women accompany other women
With the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the struggle to access a safe abortion does not end.
This is why, in addition to the private institutions that existed to accompany women and offer medical services to interrupt pregnancy in Colombia, such as Profamilia or the Oriéntame organization, initiatives have emerged such as the Somos Jacarandas Foundation, which seeks to accompany those who They want to access an abortion legally.
Through a telephone line, women can receive advice on how to access the procedure through the health system and legal support when medical institutions deny them the service.
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