The Dominican Republic To Keep a Total Abortion Ban

The Dominican Republic's President Luis Abinader on Thursday acknowledged that he does not support the decriminalization of abortion. He said that the three grounds for allowing abortion are still dividing his society. 

RELATED: 

Dominican Republic Keeps Haitian Migrants Out of Vaccinations

"This is an issue where I have to respect the opinion of each lawmaker... I cannot impose a position on representatives who have other ideas stemming from a religious point of view," Abinader said.

Last week, Lower Chamber's Justice Commission rendered a favorable report on the Penal Code's modification without including the exceptions to abortion, thus speaking outrage among women's rights activists.

Furthermore, several political figures proposed to address the abortion issue in a special law as a strategy to smoothly approve the new Penal Code. 

The three grounds of exceptionality for abortion are rape or incest, fetus' deformations incompatible with life, and mother's life at risk.

Gender activists warned of an increase in sexual aggression last year when 5,227 sexual crimes were registered nationwide. In 2019,  there were 1,403 cases of rape and 436 incest.

The current Penal Code establishes penalties of one up to two years of imprisonment for those who perform an abortion or assist in it. The penalties are four to ten years for health professionals.

In 2006, Congress approved a bill to amend the Penal Code which was vetoed by former Presidents Leonel Fernandez (2004-2012) and Danilo Medina (2012-2020) given that exceptions to abortion were not included.