Therefore, there are many obstacles that people face in obtaining a legal abortion in Guatemala. Article 139 – (Attempted illegal abortion). A woman`s attempt to induce her own abortion and her own illegal abortion goes unpunished. “If the Guatemalan Congress approves this bill, it will send the message that it considers women and LGBT people to be second-rate,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “The proposal makes perfect sense, inhumane and could criminalize women and girls who have had a miscarriage.” “One of the most troubling things about this initiative is that it criminalizes miscarriages. This means that women who spontaneously lose their pregnancies could fall victim to it,” Ada Valenzuela, executive director of Guatemala`s National Women`s Union, told BBC Mundo. The Guatemalan Penal Code expresses this exception as follows: “Abortion performed by a doctor with the consent of the woman after a positive diagnosis by at least one other doctor is not punishable; if it was carried out without the intention of obtaining the death of the product of conception directly and solely for the purpose of avoiding a duly established danger to the life of the mother, after exhaustion of all scientific and technical means. “If a woman arrives at the hospital bleeding, she is treated and then sent back to court until it is proven to be a natural abortion. And this will usually happen to the poorest women,” Valenzuela explains. Article 134 – (Abortion obtained). A woman who initiates her abortion or consents to another person who causes it is liable to imprisonment for one to three years.
If he does so for reasons which, closely related to his condition, undoubtedly lead to psychological changes, the penalty will be six months to two years in prison. Should there be a specific law that regulates the issue of abortion? It stipulates that abortion will be criminalized in all circumstances. Articles 133 to 137 contain the penalties applicable to the practice or performance of abortions. Anyone who causes an abortion with the consent of the woman or woman who causes her own abortion will be criminalized by a prison sentence of 2 to 8 years; In the event that this is done without the consent of the woman, it will be punished with a prison sentence of 4 to 10 years. If the abortion is committed by a doctor, it is punishable by a prison sentence of 5 to 12 years, in addition to the penalty of prohibition from exercising the profession or activity during the same period. It is punishable by a prison sentence of 2 to 5 years for anyone who induces a woman or gives her the means to perform an abortion, in the case of parenthood, the penalty is increased by one third of the penalty, in the case of a guilty abortion, it is punishable by a prison sentence of 6 months to 2 years. An illegal abortion caused by the pregnant woman herself and her attempt to induce her abortion are not punishable. There is a whole sub-registration here. What we found was that doctors didn`t even document therapeutic abortions for fear of indictment or persecution.
They were given a different name or written that “the situation has been resolved.” That legislation is contrary to the rules which provide that there must be no discriminatory rules and that they must be excluded from the national legal order. Therefore, abortion should not be regulated in the penal code, but in a specific regulation based on a problem of public health and women`s human rights, in which women`s sexual and reproductive rights are seriously compromised. Women suffer from health problems and die from clandestine abortions. By not decriminalizing it, it is ignored and the state leaves women alone. Currently, abortion in Guatemala is only legal if the life of the pregnant woman or girl is in danger. The new proposal defines abortion as the “natural or induced death” of the embryo or fetus and provides for penalties of up to four years in prison for women who undergo an “illegal abortion.” If they perform clandestine and unsafe abortion, they will not have access to a hospital for post-abortion care. There is also the problem that the state has diverted from the health system for COVID-19 emergency resources that were intended for contraceptive methods and emergency kits. We are already almost a year behind in providing care for the health care system. And that, poor women. Women who can afford it go to their private hospital with their insurance and there is not much of a problem with a therapeutic abortion. But we are talking about women who have access to the public system. What is going on? Because of the stigma that exists, and although it is decriminalized, hospitals have prioritized the fetus over women`s lives and health.
In many cases, not only were they denied service, but they also let women die because they brought the situation to this point. Many women and even health workers do not know the details we have made here about legal abortion in Guatemala, which avoids a danger to the life of the pregnant person, which leads them to resort to a clandestine and dangerous abortion. Sunday`s march in Guatemala targeted two initiatives on abortion and gender identity. Is the abortion situation in Guatemala understood as a public health problem? “The proposal is completely devoid of common sense, inhumane and could criminalize women and girls who have miscarriages,” Vivanco said in a statement posted on HRW`s website. I think there`s a different correlation of forces in Congress.