Foreign groups urge lawmakers to decriminalize abortion

Santo Domingo.- Human rights and women’s rights organizations have sent letters to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, urging lawmakers to decriminalize abortion under extreme conditions to avert preventable deaths of women and girls.

The letters were sent to the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies Radhamés Camacho, and of the Senate Reinaldo Pared.

The missives note that decriminalizing abortion in the Dominican Penal Code means adapting the Dominican legal framework to the international commitments assumed by the country to ensure the fundamental rights of women throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

“The Women and Health Collective joins this demand because this action shows that the international community is watching the Dominican Republic, which on several occasions was called to amend its legislation because it is contrary to the human rights of women,” said Cynthia Velasco, director of that local organization.

The letters were sent by the following women’s rights organizations:

The Latin American Consortium Against Unsafe Abortion (CLACAI), Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX), Women’s Coordinator, Exchange and Services Center for the Southern Cone (CISCA) and Brenda Austin, National Deputy from Córdoba province, Argentina.