Nearly a month before the end of 2019, President-in-Office Epsy Campbell said the technical abortion standard will be signed this year. This was reported after a meeting with Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is visiting Costa Rica.
The technical norm for therapeutic abortion is the regulation necessary for gynecologists and specialized obstetricians to apply therapeutic abortion, established in article 121 of the Criminal Code, in those cases in which the life of the mother is at risk and there is prior consent.
Campbell was clear in stating that the country is more than 50 years late in that regulation and that this is a “debt” to women’s health. Although article 121 of the Criminal Code allows abortion in the event that a woman’s life is in danger, a regulatory framework is necessary so that doctors can decide in which cases it is convenient to terminate the pregnancy. This norm will establish the steps, deadlines and procedures to follow for a legal abortion in public and private health centers, nationwide.
The content of this standard has been handled at a technical level and the Ministry of Health has refused to disclose details of the text.