Thousands of people took to the streets of Colombia’s main cities this Sunday to express their rejection of the decision made last Monday by the Constitutional Court to decriminalize abortion up to 24 weeks, and to ask the high court to reverse the decision.
The demonstrators, some of whom claimed to be part of the "Pro-Life Army"gathered in the center of Bogotá with signs that read "Killing innocents is not a right, nor is it freedom" or "Medicine was created to save lives, not to end them".
Many wore sky blue scarves, as well as religious images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, of which one protester even carried a sculpture.
On Monday, with the favorable vote of five magistrates and four others against, the Constitutional Court decided not to remove the crime of abortion from the Penal Code, as the lawsuit claimed, but to allow women to voluntarily interrupt their pregnancy until 10 p.m. weeks.
In this way, Colombia adopted a mixed model, with free abortion until that date and the causes that already existed since 2006 (danger to the life or health of the mother, malformation of the fetus and incest or rape) for the rest of the time.
"PAIN AND INDIGNATION"
For Samuel Ángel, president and founder of the Solidarity Social Research Institute, "there is endless pain and national outrage" for the decision to decriminalize abortion up to six months.
"The Constitutional Court has attributed (legislative) functions that the Constitution does not give it and has hijacked the functions of Congress. Unfortunately this week it decided, by a decision of five people that no Colombian elected, to legitimize the murder of children up to the sixth month in the mother’s womb"he told Efe.
The man pointed out that there are even sectors "progressives" who have rejected the decision which, he stated, "has terrified a Colombia that prided itself, in the midst of its problems, on defending life".
"We have decided to go out and march not only so that this infamous sentence is revoked, but also so that we change and restructure what is now known as the Constitutional Court."he stated.
Thus, Ángel valued that in this demonstration they united against this "infamous decision" groups ranging from "Pro-life NGOs across the country" until "christian and catholic churches".
For her part, Sofía Restrepo, a young woman who participated in the demonstration in Bogotá, assured Efe that she is "marching for life, for the innocent babies that are being killed in the womb and against the decision made by the Constitutional Court to decriminalize abortion".
"We are here to support life, we are here because we brought them (to life) and we must be responsible for our actions, coherently. If a woman does not want to have children, we are in the 21st century and there are many planning methods"he added.
In addition to going out to protest in Bogotá, Colombians turned to reject the decision of the Constitutional Court in the streets of cities such as Medellín, Cali or Bucaramanga, among others.
