Is Venezuela prepared for the decriminalization of safe abortion with its causes?

Venezuela, being a State whose principles are freedom, equality, and justice, as established in Article 2 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Crbv), however, this continues to maintain a patriarchal, Catholic system, with memory and macho culture, and until now, continues to leave behind sexual and reproductive rights, and more so if it is the issue of safe abortion.

Now, is Venezuela prepared to address the issue of abortion in a safely, judicially, and socially? This September 28, the “Global Day of Action for Legal and Safe Abortion” was commemorated, the date that originated the “V” Feminist and Caribbean Encounter, held in Argentina in 1990, where several proposals that constitute For the countries of the regions, take into account the decriminalization and legalization of abortion.

However, those who have to be prepared are the women themselves, but Venezuela as a nation , and at a global level, there is still much to change, integrate, establish, disseminate, and prevent in matters of sexual and reproductive rights, being such a complex issue that it must be analyzed, but above all raised awareness to move beyond the request, decriminalization and regularization of abortion, so we cannot continue to see girls who are victims of incest being mothers, women, systematically raped and abused, girls with disabilities within the intra-family part, either by a family r, neighbor, or unknown.

On the other hand, the deaths that exist clandestinely as illegal abortion practices, in underdeveloped countries with extreme poverty, hunger, lack of public policies, public health, social policies that do not adjust to the disproportionality and severity of systematic violence against women and girls, it is important to have psychological, legal and social support networks, to protect, and guarantee the sexual and reproductive rights of women.

There are some people who are a bit reluctant to discuss this issue, indeed, even for me, it has cost me In fact, I had to study it at the International Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica, because in effect, being such a complex, delicate, questioned issue, it deserves all respect under a common perception, with scientific guidelines on health, legal , and legal, which are alien to subjectivity, and interpretation of one’s own right to decide.

The practice of abortion is one of the oldest dilemmas that may exist, especially induced abortion, which “… goes back to civilizations as varied as China under Shennong (c. 2700 BC), Ancient Egypt with its Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BC), and the Roman Empire in the time of Juvenal (c. 200 CE)… ”actually not a new topic, but out of respect for those who study everything In matters of health, sexual and reproductive, surely they could contribute from their perspective and studies on legal abortion, for example, here in Venezuela, we have the Organization called “Avesa” that for years has continued working on sexual and reproductive rights, Their work is very good, also those of the UNPFA of the United Nations in Venezuela, in reality, it is essential to work for prevention and education, first of all.

Also, see For the first time, the #RutaVerdeVzla as an overwhelming campaign was historic, where various organizations met to request the decriminalization of safe abortion now.

However, today, I know what there are various conceptualizations about the meaning of abortion, as established by the Org World Health Organization (WHO), that abortion is “the interruption of a pregnancy after the implantation of the fertilized egg in the endometrium before the fetus has reached viability, that is, before it is able to survive and maintain a life independent extrauterine “(WHO 1994).

The previous explanation, which could very well be used as an example, but I prefer to be addressed in the scientific part of the medical staff, As for me, I approach it from Human Rights, its legality, social justice, although this does not remove my professional scientific interpretation in legal matters, for a decriminalized, safe abortion, and under various causes, where we do not see more women paying prison sentences, for unsafe abortions.

In Venezuela, it is typified in its current Penal Code, in its Chapter IV, in articles 430, which legally indicates what means induced abortion, with penalties ranging from 6 months to two years, the article431, in reference to abortion with your consent, has a penalty of 12 to 30 months in prison, article 432, suffered abortion, with a penalty of three to 5 years in prison, with its aggravations where the prison sentence increases from 6 to 12 years, taken as intentional homicide, the one that has caused the death of the woman, and if this type of penalty is exercised by her partner, the conviction increases by one sixth, it should be noted that within the same will be the accessory penalties , and specific, in addition, within the codification, we have article 433, which establishes the intervention in matters of public health, with penalties that will be applied according to the accessory.

On the other hand, article 434, establishes a type of abortion honoris causa, which nobody talks about, and it is nothing more than, this same article reduces the proportionality of the sentence from one to two third, and the prison will become a prison, in the event that the “author” had committed it to save his own “honor” or the honor of his wife, his mother, his descendant, sister or adopted daughter, this article, if analyzed well, has a perception of decision that falls on the man, at the time of his execution to save his “honor” …, We continue to see that the right to decide of women and girls is far from reality, if we do not begin to reform, and consequently, to decriminalize abortion as it should be, they will continue to decide for us.

It is remarkable that there is still much to be addressed on this issue, the Penal Code, being one of the most important codifications, after the Constitution, it is to be considered that it must be reformed explaining each of the types of abortions, legalizing their interruption for various reasons, because something must be taken into account, one thing is the own decision, and another thing is, to do it by doing it, period, in the criminal legal field, everything has an explanation , for your defense, so, do not confuse, the true essence of what which means abortion, in my opinion, there are still pregnant women who are at risk of death, and even so, they decide for her, so that she continues with her pregnancy, and this would be burning her hands with wrong decisions.

In the Crbv, in force, establishes in its article 76, the protection of maternity and paternity, the freedom to decide which children to have, but does not establish the decision and interruption of the same, until ensuring the Family planning, which in fact, is only between men and women, and does not give the possibility of gender as such, with absolute freedom in equality of rights and duties, without a doubt, first we must reform the constitution about the own right to decide, and other rights in gender equality, think about the priorities that lead to guaranteeing sexual and reproductive rights, put aside all those ideologies that have affected women and girls for centuries.

If I’m sure of something, that the new ol A feminist, and Venezuelan women, in momentous moments like these, are achieving what for years has not been achieved, and it is simply deciding, and being part of the visible change of the new era, and that I hope one day to see that already They do not go out on the streets to shout for our rights, but rather that we can achieve them without much delay, and without leaving anyone behind, the issue of abortion is a sensitive issue, of course it is, but it is time to have the right own to decide, and more in moments like these where the socioeconomic part is not helping much.

In Latin America, we have countries like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, which recently in September 2021, “… the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico declared unconstitutional to criminalize abortion in an absolute way, as well as to recognize the right to life from conception, even if its decision referred to to the laws of the states of Coahuila and Sinaloa, but the fa The judicial system set a precedent for its application in the rest of the states of Mexico… ”

“… Paraguay, Guatemala, Peru and Costa Rica have some of the most restrictive legislation and abortion is only decriminalized if the life or health of the pregnant woman is in danger… ”in Ecuador with its 3 causes, Bolivia includes the cause of incest, and in the case of Belize, even due to socioeconomic factors, Colombia and Brazil They include in their Penal Codes, the variables for rape and unfeasibility of the fetus.

In Venezuela, be careful with this, it is not that abortion as such is not legalized, which What happens is that it is not decriminalized under grounds, and it is unsafe, although if it does not have specific grounds in reference, it has restrictive and punishing conditions with prison, towards women, and for those who exercise it, here what is being sought is decriminalization, that they are safe abortions, and that they do not continue to remain in hiding, since they lead to women and girls, to be the main cause of death, but for this to happen, they must be analyzed, reformed, included, and innovated, and we must also remember that it is not only the Penal Code, we have the Child Protection Law , Girl and Adolescent, which guarantees the best interests of the NNA, from the moment of conception, and among other acquired rights, all this will be achieved if we have a good team of professionals working for change.

One thing is the legal, the legal, within the law and the justiciable, and another thing is to see it from the psychological, scientific, educational, and social perspective, nothing that is contrary to the Law, can advance in criminal matters, everything must be proven, defended, or accused, by virtue of which it is part of the penalty. In Venezuela, there are two exceptions, the first as therapeutic abortion, where it is essential to save the life of the woman in labor, and the other that is really totally wrong in my opinion, is the abortion honor and causes, where the author defends his honor , and despite this, the penalty is reduced, a more irrational thing like this, I have not seen in my profession as a lawyer.

“The right to self-decision of women and girls cannot be questioned, it is time for it to be prioritized”
Diyuly Chourio

@ diyulychourio

Consulted sources
https://www.cndh.org.mx/noticia/dia-por-la-despenalizacion-del-aborto-en-america-latina-y-el-caribe
https://www.diainternacionalde.com/ficha/dia-accion-aborto-legal-seguro
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion
https://www.derechos.org.ve/pw/wp-content/uploads/reformaparcial_CP.pdf
https://obtienearchivo.bcn.cl/obtienearchivo?id=repositorio/10221/21343/4/BCNInterrupcionvoluntariadelembarazo_2015_FINAL_v3.pdf

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