Medina veto of bill on abortion a political ploy: prominent NGO

Santo Domingo.- Justice and Transparency Foundation (FJT) president Trajan Potentini on Thursday called president Danilo Medina’s veto of the Penal Code legislation a political ploy, since he exclusively referred to just four articles of that bill regarding abortion.

The head of the prominent civil society organization also called the veto a masterstroke, introducing a vague and imprecise observations, limited to general considerations, even impracticable wording for the Dominican Constitution.

“Worse still, his proposal don’t present specific wording, apparently leaving to Congress’ discretion whether to extend the coverage on abortion, despite the chief executive’s knowledge that neither the constitution nor human rights treaties allow decriminalization, except in cases of therapeutic abortion,” Potentini said.

He said after Congress passes a bill and the President vetoes it, as is the case, Congress could remove the Articles according to the constitution, and approve it with a simple majority. “If the Executive doesn’t accept any of the changes after two regular congressional sessions unanswered, it will then welcome the President’s observations automatically.”

Potentini added that Medina’s constitutional obligation is to specify the reason behind his veto as well as to provide Congress with clear and precise wording of the proposal, “which hasn’t happened with the Penal Code, where we only see general considerations and even beyond constitutional possibilities.”