The National Academy of Medicine (ANM), faced with the determination of the Constitutional Court to decriminalize abortion in any circumstance until the 24th week of gestation, considers that “I would have found the measure convenient if the deadline to authorize the procedure had not exceeded the 14th week of pregnancy”prays in a statement released by this guild.
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In the same document, the ANM considers that under no circumstances can the doctor be forced to be the causal agent of the abortion and for this purpose conscientious objection will always be respected and for which it finds it pertinent to recommend that doctors take into account the established in the statutory health law, Law 1751 of 2015, which guarantees the autonomy of all health professionals to make decisions about the diagnosis and treatment of the patients under their care.
Regarding the Court’s decision, it considers that since it is an accomplished fact against which the Academy was not consulted, it feels obliged to make some recommendations aimed at addressing the health of the mother and child binomial, when they face the dilemma of the interruption voluntary pregnancy and guide doctors who agree with the mandate of the High Court.
In this sense, it makes it clear that the woman’s power to make a free and voluntary decision must have informed consent, that is, the doctor is obliged to inform her in a comprehensive “truthful, timely and understandable manner, everything related to the procedure to carry out and the risks inherent to it”, without neglecting that the interested party will be warned about the possibility of freely revoking their consent at any time and that the orientation and advice should not impose values or beliefs, judge, or try to convince the expectant mother to incline her decision in one direction or another.
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Similarly, the ANM considers that when it comes to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in children under 14 years of age or people with diminished mental capacity “it will be necessary, in addition to the expression of their will, the express consent of their legal representatives.”
Ethical conflicts
In the ANM statement, signed by its board of directors, headed by its president Germán Gamarra Hernández, it makes it clear that although as a consulting and advisory body to the Government, the ANM was consulted by the Constitutional Court in the processing of judgment C- 355 of 2006, in which some concepts were made clear, the Court at that time “inappropriately qualified the termination of pregnancy at any time during its development as abortion, which has produced serious ethical and technical conflicts in the doctors, because from the scientific point of view, abortion is the termination of pregnancy when the fetus is not yet viable outside the womb”.
For doctors, ethical and technical conflicts remain in force when it comes to advanced pregnancy, with a live, healthy fetus that responds to pain
In this sense, the Academy adds that fetal viability is reached when the 22nd week of gestation or 500 grams of weight is reached, as defined by the WHO and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and insists that beyond This limit should be referred to as immature delivery, premature delivery when it reaches 40 weeks of gestation. “Bear in mind, furthermore, that for some the moral status of the fruit of conception is progressive in accordance with its biological development,” says the report.
Next, the statement says that after the 2006 sentence, the Constitutional Court, when referring to the three known causes, no longer speaks of abortion but of “voluntary interruption of pregnancy”, but without establishing time limits for the procedure.
“That is to say, for doctors, ethical and technical conflicts remain in force when it comes to an advanced pregnancy, with a live fetus, healthy, that responds to pain, that has a facial expression, that is capable of listening, yawning and kicking and that It has the reflexes of grasping and sucking. The interruption of pregnancy in these circumstances would force the fetal heart to be pharmacologically paralyzed, which is equivalent to causing the death of a being that could live independently of the mother with adequate medical assistance,” the statement said.
The ANM supports this public pronouncement insofar as said provision commits doctors and the health system to the highest degree, for which it issues concepts that it considers balanced, impartial, ethical and at the same time scientific, being a pluralistic corporation and respectful of thought of each of its members.
Finally, the ANM insists that it is necessary to develop public health policies that favor the prevention of unwanted pregnancies through sexual education programs, easy access and availability of sufficient contraceptive methods, in addition to having preferential care routes that include preconception consultations. , family planning, early prenatal care and information on the right of women to voluntary interruption of pregnancy, as provided in the Court’s Judgments.
It makes it clear that upon knowing the final text of the sentence, it is proposed to prepare a document that will be the basis for a bill that will be widely discussed in the Congress of the Republic, which will allow abortion to be decriminalized “within a framework of respect for the human life and the rights and duties of the different actors involved in this momentous decision,” the statement concluded.
HEALTH UNIT