Spokesmen for the organizations Taller Salud Proyecto Matria and the Puerto Rican Association for the Welfare of Families (Profamilias), on Thursday opposed the bills 693 and 1084, 715 and 1410 of the Senate of the House of Representatives, which address the issue of reproductive rights. of women and pregnant women.
The trio gave their approval to the Room 1403 Project, authored by Mariana Nogales Molinelli, José Bernardo Márquez Reyes and Denis Márquez Lebrón.
“Women’s autonomy to make decisions about their health is the guarantee of full rights in citizenship. That is, we are not second-class citizens, we are citizens, in full exercise of rights as long as we can have autonomy in decision-making in our bodies, our health and our lives”, said the executive director of Taller. Salud, Tania Rosario at the public hearing of the Judiciary Commission.
Rosario assured that the practice of abortion is regulated through Department of Health regulations and codes of ethics that guide doctors and health professionals.
For her part, the Profamilias Lawyer for Protection and Access to Abortion, Frances Collazo Cáceres, insisted that the World Health Organization (WHO) already defines the parameters by which the termination of unwanted pregnancies must be carried out. Collazo Cáceres also cited Article Two, Section One, Sections 7 and 8 of the Constitution, which states that “Every person has the right to protection by law, against abusive attacks on his honor, his reputation and his private or family life “.
The president of the commission, José Orlando Aponte Rosario, found that this article of the Constitution does not specify anything about family planning. However, Collazo Cáceres insisted that there are several judicial decisions in Puerto Rico and at the federal level that have addressed the issue, but it was up to the commission to submit them later.
For her part, the executive director of the Matria Project, Amarilis Pagán Jiménez, in her opposition to the House Project 715, criticized that the measure “takes advantage of the emotional impact caused in the country by the death of Keishla Marlen Rodríguez Ortiz to propose giving character unborn of a person. The bill aims to convert the death of an unborn child as a result of the murder of a pregnant woman into first degree murder.
He further argued that House Bill 1410, “represents an abdication by the legislative branch of its duty to generate legislation that is consistent with the values and rights recognized in our Constitution and avoids taking a position on the issue of abortion based on science, fair and rigorous consideration of its potential impacts on women’s lives.”
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“House Bill 1410, by Reps. Luis Raúl Torres Cruz and Rafael Hernández Montañez, seeks to hold a special referendum to know if the eligible electorate wants to recognize the right to life of the unborn.
Finally, the advisor to Taller Salud’s executive director, Tania Rosario, joined the support of other organizations in House Bill 1403, which seeks to create the Law for the Protection of the Reproductive Rights of Women and Pregnant Women.
The well-known representatives Estrella Martínez Soto and Lydia Méndez Silva participated in the public hearing; the representative of the Victory Civic Movement, Mariana Nogales Molinelli; representative of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Denis Márquez Lebrón; and the representative of the Dignity Project, Lisie Burgos Muñiz.
