This Tuesday marks the first year of ruling C-055 of 2022, which decriminalized the voluntary interruption of pregnancy until week 24, and maintained the three grounds that had been known in 2006, through the constitutional court.
This was an effort of more than a year of strategic litigation and several social mobilizations of hundreds of women who took to the streets or through social networks to demand a ‘free abortion’, this is how on February 21, 2022, The Constitutional Court recognized the voluntary interruption of pregnancy as a right closely linked to the right to life, health, integrity, self-determination, privacy and dignity of women.
After decades caring for women who arrived with incomplete clandestine abortions, since it was legal in Colombia, women rarely arrive at the Oriéntame clinics bleeding or in pain caused by a procedure that, performed safely, saves lives.
“Since the ruling (decriminalization) came out, the treatment of incomplete abortion has gone under,” celebrates Luisa Fernanda Álvarez, program coordinator for this non-profit foundation that has sexual and reproductive health care clinics in various cities around the world. country.
On February 21, 2022, the Constitutional Court decriminalized voluntary abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy, which has meant that “women know that they can request an abortion when they need it,” explains Laura Gil, one of the faces of “Just Cause” behind the lawsuit.
Women can request free termination of pregnancy and “it is rare to find patients with incomplete abortions at this time,” according to Álvarez, although they continue to occur in areas where there are still barriers, such as rural areas.
ACCESS TO ABORTION
Any woman in Colombia who wants an abortion and is less than 24 weeks pregnant only has to request a medical appointment and at that moment “mechanisms have to be activated that make her come to a consultation where they assure her that they are going to give her the service in the next five days,” explained Gil, who is a gynecologist and obstetrician.
«There are still patients who have had difficulties because they express their opinion in the consultation, because the person who received the first request does not have complete information or thinks that it is not yet a right, but in general in the way that I am working, the patients easily find the route to terminate the pregnancy”, he adds.
From the moment a woman enters the Oriéntame private clinic, in the Bogotá neighborhood of Teusaquillo, until she leaves after having an abortion, five hours pass: they are seen by appointment, they pay between 450,000 pesos and 1.3 million pesos (between 91 dollars and 265 dollars), according to the procedure, and go to the first orientation with psychologists.
“An orientation that basically is to know how the person is”, explains Álvarez, the different procedures are discussed -depending on the evolution of the pregnancy, it can be pharmacological or medical with methods such as spraying or dilation-, and then it goes to the interruption in an outpatient model.
THE AMOUNT
In Oriéntame, in 2020, 9,223 abortions were performed within the three grounds stipulated at the time, a figure that increased by about 1,500 in 2021 (due to the effect of the pandemic) and that last year, when it was already completely legal, it only increased by 120, up to the 10,844.
THE SAME ABORTIONS BUT FEWER DEATHS
One of the myths when abortion is decriminalized is that voluntary interruptions of pregnancy increase, but although the Ministry of Health has not given figures, the specialists know that “they are really the same women who were already going to abort, only now they know they have right to do so for their health service”.
“Women have always sought alternatives to manage unwanted pregnancies,” explains Álvarez. And although they have not decreased, deaths did drop because the mortality risks in a safe abortion are lower than those of childbirth.
According to preliminary data from the National Institute of Health (INS), in 2022 there were 255 cases of early maternal mortality, while in 2021 there were 457 and in 2020, 399.
DIGNIFIED ABORTIONS
“A dignified abortion is with the adequate infrastructure conditions,” says Álvarez. It is not only abortion, it is “an emotional level support”, that they clearly explain what is going to happen and the precautionary measures, but also that they advise you on contraceptive and sexual health measures.
Also knowing that the risks are very low and that only a pill is needed -in the cases of a few weeks- or a medical procedure that can be done in an obstetric chair.
“Almost no blood is taken,” says Álvarez and explains: when blood is donated, they take 450 cubic centimeters, while in a surgical procedure before 15 weeks the blood loss is between 60 and 100 and when the interruption is made in the second trimester of pregnancy, ranges between 200 and 350, “that is, much less than what a person would donate.”
Despite the advances, there is still a long way to go to break down myths and barriers, ensure that conscientious objection does not prevent any woman from having an abortion or bring services to remote communities where they have to travel even days to terminate their pregnancy.