Senate President on the three grounds: "It is already contemplated in the Code and in the Constitution"

Santo Domingo.- The Senate President, Ricardo de los Santos, responded this Friday to the criticisms made by women's groups who labeled the penal code reform project as "cave-like," defending that aspects such as the protection of the mother's and fetus's life are already guaranteed in both the current penal legislation and the Constitution.

"We could already say that it is clearly established in article 112 of the Penal Code that when the life of the mother or the fetus is in danger, it can be intervened by the doctor in a strictly scientific process, without even obliging to face justice, because it is foreseen," expressed the legislator. De los Santos added that, in addition to the Code, the Constitution itself in its article 42.3 also includes that principle.

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“We are not talking about three causes, and we all have to be clear in the country. Do we want a Code or do we not want a Code? It has been said that this issue will be addressed, the causes that are not included in the Penal Code, which are not three,” he affirmed. His statements came after various women's groups demonstrated in front of the National Congress to demand that the three grounds for abortion be included in the reform of the Penal Code. The groups have insisted that the project, as it is written, absolutely penalizes abortion, reduces penalties for sexual assaults, and maintains judicial privileges for members of military bodies, which in their view violates fundamental rights and perpetuates impunity. However, De los Santos defended the legislative work and urged to debate whether the path should be a special law that regulates such cases. "Here the important thing is that the country defines whether or not it wants a new Penal Code," he concluded.