New Challenge Issued To Abortion Ban

The Strategic Group for the Depenalization of Therapeutic Abortion last week filed the first in a new series of motions of unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the country’s ban on therapeutic abortion, which was ratified by the new Penal Code that entered into force July 10.

The rights groups filed a bevy of similar challenges before the Supreme Court in January 2007, after the National Assembly passed a law to outlaw therapeutic abortion from the old Penal Code. The high court never ruled on those motions.

But when the New Penal, which maintains the abortion ban, became law earlier this month, the rights group was given a second chance to fight the measure legally.

The strategic group argues that the ban on life-saving abortions violates women’s rights to life, health, and human dignity.

The Supreme Court is supposed to rule within three months.