Women picket Congress, demand 3 paths to abortion

Santo Domingo.- “For a Penal Code that represents women” is one of the chants by dozens of women which picket Tuesday in front of Congress, to demanding that lawmakers include president Danilo Medina’s comments to the bill which allows three exceptions to perform an abortion.

Magali Pineda Feminist Forum spokeswoman Sergia Galván said abortion should be decriminalized when there are congenital malformations incompatible with life, if the woman has been raped or incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger.

“We understand this is a humanitarian issue. Sending a doctor to prison for 10 years for saving a woman’s life is an encroachment in their profession and a flagrant violation of human rights,” said the activist of the Women’s Rights Coalition.

“We understand that it’s a just cause and we hope that today in the Chamber of Deputies there’s wisdom and rationality to make the decision thinking about the integrity of women,” said Galvan.