A Colombian pro-life leader has warned that their nation’s recent legalisation of abortion will make women much more vulnerable.

On 21 February, Colombia’s Constitutional Court decriminalised abortion up to six months of pregnancy. No time limit is to apply in cases of disability, rape and endangerment to the mother.

Pro-life leader Deisy Álvarez, executive director of the Red Provida Latin American Pro-life Network, slammed “the terrible decision” as “barbaric”. Álvarez said that women “are going to be more unprotected” as a result.

“Abortion is horrible at any week of pregnancy, but allowing abortions in such advanced stages is going to affect women psychologically”, Álvarez continued. “No abortion is safe, no matter how much they are performed… It always has a physical or psychological consequence.”

Álvarez now expects abortions in Colombia “to skyrocket” since they are “practically” now “allowed under all circumstances”.

Abortions will “skyrocket”

Rather than offering women alternatives to abortion and fostering a culture of life, Álvarez points out, “a message is being sent to Colombian society, especially to the new generations, that if you believe that something stands between your dreams and life projects, even if it’s your own child, you can kill him”.

“What a woman in an unexpected pregnancy needs is support from society, from institutions… The woman needs to be told that she’s not alone and that help materializes in different aspects, such as food, education, housing, medicine, becoming a professional, getting a job and economic stability.”

Colombia has done the exact opposite, Álvarez concludes.

“Today abortion centres are going to multiply in Colombia, because that’s the business. But as a pro-life community, we must provide an immediate response to women in need and rescue them.”

“Heartbreaking” story of father who lost child to abortion

Colombia legalised abortion in 2006 for cases of foetal deformities, rape and when the physical or mental health of the mother was deemed to be at risk.

In 2020, SPUC reported on the heartbreaking story of a Colombian father who failed to prevent the abortion of his son after an emergency appeal for guardianship. The mother first claimed that the baby had deformities, which was untrue, then that her own mental health was threatened.

The real reason, the father reported, was that her family pressured her into the abortion, a story seemingly confirmed by a local hospital. Despite being ordered by a judge not to abort the child, the baby was killed.

Abortion doesn’t serve women

SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs & Legal Services), said: “Colombia’s decision to legalise abortion, essentially up to the point of birth, will devastate women and create misery for both mothers and fathers, as SPUC has previously documented. An untold number of babies’ lives will also be destroyed. 

“As Deisy Álvarez points out, women will also suffer the physical and emotional cost of this barbaric decision, which only serves the abortion industry. Far from protecting women, abortion puts them at even greater risk of harm and creates a culture of coercion that, already in Colombia, has seen a child aborted because family members did not support a pregnancy.

“Moreover, the definition of the ‘mental health’ of the mother has even now been broadened to allow abortion in almost any circumstance.

“Let’s be clear, the true health of women is not what concerns the abortion industry and its advocates. Its definitions and justification are only weighted in favour of killing unborn children and putting mothers at risk of physical and mental trauma.”

Abortion and Women’s Health

The evidence-based review Abortion and Women’s Health reveals the horrific impact that abortion can have on the mental health of women.

Key findings include:

• A woman who undergoes an abortion is six times more likely to commit suicide than a woman who gives birth.
• A woman is 30% more likely to suffer from depression compared to a woman who gives birth.
• A woman is 25% more likely to suffer from anxiety compared to a woman who gives birth.
• A woman who has had an abortion is at a higher risk of psychiatric admission compared to a woman who gives birth.