Colombia - Politics

Anti-abortion rally, Colombia, 2006

Listening to the debate on abortion in the UK and in Colombia the differences in cultures (political and social) could not be more stark.

Legal abortion rates in the UK are among the highest in the world, around 200,000 a year. In Colombia there were 641 legal abortions between 2006 and 2010.





In Colombia, abortion is only permitted if the woman's life is threatened, if the pregnancy is the result of rape, or the fetus is expect to die shortly after birth. Before 2006 all abortion was illegal. 

In the UK there appears to be little political appetite to toughen the liberal abortion laws. In Colombia the argument is whether to make abortion illegal once more.

Nadine Dorries

UK Conservative MP Nadine Dorries is seeking to change the law so women receive 'independent advice' - ie not the advice given by the clinics who carry out the abortions. The cry from those who oppose is that it is a insidious way of trying to reduce the number of abortions in the country, reducing the woman's right to choice.

In Colombia the Conservative Party has launched a campaign to outlaw abortions, to return to the status quo ante 2006. The party has gathered 5 million signatures supporting this call. http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-296507-pese-advertencia-de-santos-conservadores-insisten-abolir-aborto

Dorries' proposed amendment would affect UK abortion laws in a relatively minor way, but there the debate rages - with elements of the press, at times, approaching hysteria. Conversely, the Colombian Conservatives' plan would profoundly change the law, but the debate is less heated. I rather suspect the later has a much greater change of success than the former.