The abortion as a fundamental right in Colombia: an analysis from the constitutional legal (in)security

Abstract

In the last three years, there have been advances and setbacks in the recognition of the right to abortion in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and the U.S. This article seeks to record the above and take the Colombian case as a reference, since in a historic decision in 2022 (with 5 judges in favor and 4 against), the Constitutional Court of the Andean country decriminalized the voluntary termination of pregnancy up to twenty-four weeks and retained the three traditional grounds for pregnancies beyond this period. With the use of an analytical-descriptive methodology, it was possible to demonstrate that, within the highest Colombian constitutional authority, there is still a sector that does not recognize abortion as a right, which has led the full Court to declare null and void two tutelage sentences rulings issued by magistrates of the same court. This denotes legal insecurity, where the most affected are the women who were denied this right.