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Fifty lawmakers decided to present a counter-report asking Congress not to repeat actions putting women's rights on the back burner.
The Dominican Republic's Congress on Wednesday discussed a Penal code reform that will criminalize femicide, harassment, corruption, and other offenses, but maintains the abortion ban.
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Besides the typification of torture, sexual activity without consent, and crimes against humanity, the new law will penalize attacks on means of transport.
A Special Commission discussed allowing abortion when the life or health of the woman is in danger, when the fetus is incompatible with extrauterine life, and when the pregnancy is the product of rape. These possibilities, however, are totally excluded from the current reform of the penal code.
This decision urged at least 50 lawmakers to present a counter-report asking Congress not to repeat actions putting women's rights on the back burner.
Activists of the Coalition for the Rights and Life of Women set up a camp to demand the decriminalization of abortion, outside the National Palace in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 March 2021. EPA-EFE/Orlando Barria pic.twitter.com/8ManV2hrrl
— Orlando Barría (@Barriaorlando) March 12, 2021
"It must be proved that the commitment to a more just society is our north, which implies supporting the abortion to guarantee the life, health, and integrity of our women and girls," lawmakers backing legal abortion said.
In 2014, Congress passed another Penal code reform, which was vetoed twice by Dominican Republic's former President Danilo Medina (2012-2020).
Currently, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Suriname prohibit abortion under any circumstance.
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