Forum looks to decriminalize abortion in Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo.- The Colectiva Mujer y Salud (Women and Health Collective) and several institutions hosted the "Forum to Decriminalize Abortion in Dominican Republic, a Matter of Human Rights," to provide legal, sociological, medical and human rights arguments in debate on the topic taking place nationwide.

The forum held through Active Citizenship Program for Women forms part of the discussion on the constitutionality of Law 550/14, which decriminalized abortion when the mother’s life is at risk, in rape and incest cases and when there’s an unviable fetal malformation.

International experts attended the forum with two panels: on health and malformation grounds and another on rape and incest.

In the health and malformation grounds panel participated Susana Chavez, who spoke on Sexual and Reproductive Rights as essential to ensure women’s health; Luis Távara who addressed abortion on malformation and unviable causes, and Collective director Sergia Galvan, who spoke on maternal mortality.