Debate erupts in Uruguay after court ruling blocks woman's abortion at ex-boyfriend's request
Public debate in Uruguay centered around the divisive issue of abortion this week following a court ruling that blocked a woman from terminating her pregnancy after her former partner appealed to the courts to block the procedure.
According to local news reports, the unnamed 24-year-old woman was ordered last week not to carry out the procedure because the father, her former boyfriend, wants to keep the baby and raise it on his own. The mother, however, said this week that she is suffering from a medical condition that may prevent her from bringing the baby to term.
Uruguayan law gives her until the 12th week of pregnancy to obtain the procedure.
Judge Pura Concepción Book, of the western city of Mercedes, ruled that the abortion contravened rights under international child-protection treaties and the Uruguayan Constitution, as well as infringing on the rights of the father. Judge Book also concluded that the woman had not “respected” the terms of the 2012 law that legalized abortion.
The Legal Abortion in Uruguay group issued a statement calling the order “abhorrent” and arguing that such decisions should be made by the woman in question alone. The country’s Constitution, they pointed out, extends no protection to unborn children.
“I feel violated, insulted,” the woman told the Montevideo news daily El País. “It’s like nobody cares about your life, your decision, what happens to you, what you feel, your condition, and you have to see from the outside how other people, who only care to make a profit, make a decision about your life,” she added, noting that her relationship with the man requesting the injunction was casual and that “at no time” had they ever discussed becoming parents.
Her ex-boyfriend said that whatever the outcome of the case, he intends to take the case to the nation’s Constitutional Court to obtain a ruling on whether fathers have rights over an unborn child.
Uruguay is the only country in South America where abortion is legal. There were 9,362 registered abortions there in 2015, compared to around 48,000 live births.
Abortion was legalized by President José “Pepe” Mujica after it passed Congress by a razor-thin margin in 2012.
At: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/224866/abortion-debate-erupts-in-uruguay-after-controversial-court-ruling