In a press release posted on Twitter, the Constitutional Court stated that abortion “will only be punishable when it is carried out after the twenty-fourth (24) week of pregnancy and, in any case, this time limit will not apply to the three cases established in ruling C- 355 of 2006.”
This means that until the 24th week of pregnancy, abortion will not be a punishable crime; and that the three grounds for abortion established by the Constitutional Court in 2006–risk to the life of the mother, sexual abuse, or fetal deformity–will remain in force with no upper gestational limit.
The court ruling asks Congress and the national government to implement a comprehensive public policy that, among other things, eliminates "any obstacle to the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights that are recognized in this ruling."
Jesús Magaña, president of the United for Life platform, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister news agency, Feb. 21 that the lawsuit debated by the court was filed by a feminist group that is financed by “ProFamilia, the largest abortion clinic in Colombia. They’re doing business, under the pretext of protecting women's bodies."
The pro-life leader also said that at the sit-in held in the morning “hundreds of coffins representing aborted babies” were placed on the sidewalk outside the court. “A baby is aborted every seven minutes in Colombia, because of the 2006 Court ruling.”
Following the ruling by the Constitutional Court, ACI Prensa spoke with Magaña, who explained that "the pro-abortion movement didn’t win, because they wanted the total decriminalization of abortion and the court didn’t give it to them."