Alliance for Access to Essential Reproductive Health Celebrates Vote Protecting Reproductive Justice in Puerto Rico
For Immediate Release: November 16, 2022
Contact: media@hispanicfederation.org
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO–Following a vote in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee against four bills that would restrict or ban abortion services on November 15, 2022, the Alliance for Access to Essential Reproductive Health issued the statements directly below. The Alliance for Access to Essential Reproductive Health is a coalition of reproductive health advocates and Latino-serving organizations that led a months-long campaign urging the Puerto Rico House of Representatives to vote down the bills.
“The two-and-a-half months of public hearings on the abortion access bills showed that any measure that tried to roll back the constitutional reproductive rights of women and pregnant people were consistently rejected. The defeat of the four anti-abortion bills in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives is a clear message that abortion is and will continue to be an essential service in this country, and that medical and scientific evidence prevailed over stigmas and sectarian beliefs that are focused on being inflammatory and sensationalist. Today we woke up in a country that values women and pregnant people. This is the right step towards a democratic and equitable country,” said Lcda. Frances Collazo Cáceres, Abortion Access Policy Advisor for Profamilias.
During the public hearing process, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, the Puerto Rico Department of Health, the Office of the Women’s Advocate, the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of the University of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Medical Bar Association, the American College of Gynecology and Obstetrics, ProGyn, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Inter-Mujeres, and national and international organizations such as Fòs Feminista, IPAS, Catholics for the Right to Choose, among others advocatedthat access to abortion services is an essential healthcare service, as well as a human and a constitutionally protected right that all women and pregnant to which all people in Puerto Rico are entitled. The aforementioned organizations also made clear that any attempt to restrict or prohibit this is driven by disinformation as well as groups and ideological sects that perpetuate violence against doctors, abortion clinics, and human rights defenders.
The Executive Directorof Taller Salud, Tania Rosario Méndez said, “these bills opened the door for undue meddling in the doctor-patient relationship, setting a disastrous precedent in local politics while putting patients and healthcare providers at risk and not improving the quality of healthcare services. Fortunately, some of us were unwilling to be intimidated, and we defeated the bills. Puerto Rico has safe regulatory mechanisms, accurate data, and competent health service providers. While this continues to be the case, abortion services should be a private affair where a doctor and a patient can consider different factors and make the best decision for the patient. The government’s only role should be to protect and guarantee access to those spaces, ensure that the correct protocols are being followed, and promote the best educational resources available to healthcare providers. The defensoras are here to ensure the wellbeing and security of all women.”
The Executive Director of Proyecto Matria, Lcda. Amárilis Pagán Jiménez expressed, “all discussions about abortion should be held from a comprehensive point of view that focuses on human rights. The human right to health is a fundamental and broad right that includes access to sexual and reproductive services. It also provides a right for all women to access services that allow them to live in physical and emotional well-being, and more than anything, it is the right to make informed decisions about our bodies. To make a choice about our bodies is to make a choice about our present and our future. That’s what this discussion is about, and thankfully, the grassroots organizations, and the professionals that provided testimony, were able to convey the right message. The Puerto Rico House of Representatives, and the Judiciary Committee, made the right choice. If we want to talk about the right to life, let’s start by affirming that we’re willing to work towards equity.”
Charlotte Gossett Navarro, Puerto Rico’s Chief Director at Hispanic Federation, said, “our right to privacy, essential healthcare, and abortion should never have been up for debate. The nearly unanimous rejection of these four unconstitutional bills made that clear and hopefully dissuades others from attacking women for their political gain. Elected leaders should focus their time and efforts on expanding women’s rights, safety, and opportunities instead of finding new ways to drag us back in time. Both here in Puerto Rico and across the U.S., we are grateful to be among advocates and legislators who are not just holding the line but moving us forward.”
Puerto Rico deserves to be a country free from discrimination, where access to healthcare is guaranteed in an equitable manner, with no prejudices or stigmas. So today, these organizations celebrate this important step taken by legislators in the House of Representatives that ensures that we do not take a step back regarding the rights of women and the LGBTTIQPA+ community.
