Controversy arose once again in the country after the Ministry of Health issued resolution 051 on January 12, adopting the regulation for comprehensive abortion care in the country and reaching the conditions that the Constitutional Court had provided for these procedures, especially with ruling C-055 of 2022 with which people with gestating capacity can voluntarily terminate pregnancies before week 24 without criminal consequences.
DIARY OF HUILA, HUILA
By: Johan Edward Rojas Lopez
Although the resolution is made up of several points, one of the ones that generated the greatest commotion was to guarantee that from now on, pregnant people under 14 years of age can voluntarily terminate their pregnancy without requiring the authorization of their parents or legal guardians.
“Girls under 14 years of age can exercise their right to the IVE (Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy) autonomously. Your desire to interrupt or continue the pregnancy takes precedence over the wishes of your parents or legal representatives, even if they do not agree with your decision”, reads the paragraph contained in the Technical Annex of the resolution, in the dedicated section to informed consent to carry out that procedure.
A guarantee was also added for pregnant people under 14 years of age, where the health professionals who carry out the procedure have to inform the authorities of the fact, if there is no complaint about it, since it is presumed to be conduct of sexual violence.
Nothing new
Erika Saldarriaga González, who is part of the board of directors of the Huila Medical College, argued that the controversy arises from ignorance of the regulations that were already around the right to voluntary intervention in pregnancy.
What the Ministry of Health did in a resolution this year was to compile all the recommendations that the Constitutional Court had already been giving through multiple sentences, that is, since 355 of 2006, which decriminalized abortion on three grounds and which it has now ratified. in 055 of 2022, which has already completely decriminalized abortion until week 24 and upheld the three grounds for pregnancies of more than 24 weeks.
“What they do is take all these updated recommendations from the World Health Organization guide from a year ago and what they do is give a very technical document in which they urge health intuitions, the EPS and health personnel salud to comply with this sentence with these guidelines”, indicated the expert, who added that, “The great controversy that arises is that people were unaware of many of the things that were already in this sentence, for example, the Constitutional Court had already said several times that minor girls and adolescents do not need authorization from a guardian or parent to access the procedure, but that they, in their reproductive autonomy, can decide freely”.
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Under this logic, for the doctor, this is necessary due to the existing misinformation, since an attempt was made to compile and break down this information for the health system so that there are no excuses for not complying with the legal indications that already exist to guarantee the access to abortion.
Thus, he explained that, “The procedure of voluntary termination of pregnancy is a very safe procedure, there are even studies that confirm that the complications related to the continuation of the pregnancy can, in some cases, be greater than those of an abortion performed under adequate conditions.” and well oriented. So what the ministry did was positive because it told health intuitions to comply with a medical procedure and guarantee this right.”
And it is that when speaking of minors under 14 years of age, it is classified as sexual violence because under Colombian legislation, a minor of that age range cannot consent to sexual relations, in this sense, there is already a protection accompaniment through the ICBF , added to all the intuitions that watch over the rights of minors.
It’s not just that
Jonathan Toro, president of the Huila Medical College, affirmed that the resolution not only talks about that point, however, it is saying that the route be activated when these types of cases arrive.
“From the physiological point of view, saying that the minor is not prepared for an abortion, but continuing with the pregnancy, the changes would be greater because the pregnancy would be almost in the first menstrual cycle. It is not desirable that I did not get pregnant and ended up having an abortion, but it is something that is happening and society cannot force them to continue with a pregnancy because that is a crime and must be investigated.”
Finally, there are those who continue to affirm that these decisions will increase the abortion figures and thousands of lives would be ending, for which they reject these decisions even more in the case of children under 14 years of age.