The SCJ rejected the plans of the “Portal de Belén” in the cause of non-punishable abortion
On November 9, the Superior Court of Justice (SCJ) resolved the definitive integration of the court that will decide on the “Portal de Belén” case, in which the constitutionality of the “Procedural Guide for the care of patients who request non-punishable abortion practices “(Resolution No. 93/12, Ministry of Health). In addition, he urged the plaintiff party to avoid delays in the case.
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Resolution No. 106 of the highest court of the Province of Cordoba is issued on three issues:
- The allegation by the Portal de Belén association that the rejection by the Senate of the project of decriminalization and legalization of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy constitutes a new fact to be taken into account by the court.
On this point, the TSJ states that the allegation was made out of time. But also, said that “the supposed alleged novelty became a mere particular legal interpretation rehearsed by the plaintiff on a political-legislative decision of the Congress of the Nation”, prima facie, far exceed “What is specifically discussed in these cars, with the independence of the integral weighting that has been done in the final judgment “. “I have not had a place.” Finally, this request will be rejected as manifestly inadmissible and dilatory.
2. The recusal without cause to the cameraman Sánchez Torres.
Given that three of the seven “natural” members of the TSJ will not resolve in this case due to licenses or excuses (Carlos García Allocco, María Marta Cáceres de Bollati and Sebastián López Peña), the three vacant places will be completed by female judges from a list of 16 judges conformed through Regulatory Agreement No. 1434 – Series “A” of 07/11/2017. The association Portal de Belén opposed that Judge Julio Ceferino Sánchez Torres joined the court through a challenge without expression of cause.
To this request the Court responded that “the recusal without expression of cause is not possible, in Córdoba, in an amparo trial, such as the one dealt with in these proceedings, in accordance with Law No. 4915 (Article 16) . However, even if by mere hypothesis it is admitted that the parties have such an attribution for subsidiary application of the CPCC, the Bethlehem Portal proposal should also be rejected as untimely “, since it took more than three days, which is the deadline for this type of orders. Consequently, it is clear that the attempt of Portal de Belén to prevent Sánchez Torres from joining the Tribunal was only a delaying strategy.
3. The recusal with expression of cause to the four natural vowels of the SCJ.
The plaintiff argued that the four original vowels of the SCJ should be set aside because the deadlines for failure are “overdone”. However, the Court considered that this assertion “has no basis […] and seems rather aimed at delaying and making impossible that this TSJ can finally be issued.”
The court affirms that the departures attempted by “Portal de Belén” are inadmissible, “even more in the context and in connection with the battery of incidents promoted by the plaintiff, which, if they are linked, demonstrate the will to prevent the integration of this court ”
“The broad exercise of the right of defense can not be confused or made compatible – much less tolerated – with the articulation of ostensible and evidently dilatory incidents, as is clear if each of the presentations made by “Portal de Belén” are connected,” concluded the Court.
Consequently, the final sentence will be dictated by the “original” members of the Superior Court Aida Tarditti, Domingo Sesin, Luis Enrique Rubio and Mercedes Blanc de Arabel, as well as by the chambers Claudia Zalazar, Julio Ceferino Sánchez Torres and Silvana María Chiapero.
The situation of the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy in Córdoba
In 2012, after the pronouncement of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in the ruling “FAL s / autosatisfactivas measures”, the Ministry of Health of the Province of Córdoba approved the resolution 93/12 and the Guide of abortion care not punishable in order to guarantee rapid and safe access to the practice of non-punishable abortions in the provincial public health services. Thirteen days later, Portal de Belén – Civil association filed an appeal against the Province of Córdoba, requesting that the resolution and guidance be declared unconstitutional and, as a precautionary measure, the suspension of the same.
In the first instance, the judge in the case made the precautionary measure stating that the guide could not be applied in its entirety, specifically with regard to access to legal interruption of pregnancy in cases of rape. In second instance, the Civil Chamber resolved the amparos presented for the purposes of appealing the first sentence, making room for it. Since 2013, the Superior Court of Justice must resolve the appeals filed and rule on the merits of the case.
Access to the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy is a recognized human right in our national and international legal framework. It is necessary to consolidate an institutional framework in which the rights to health, sexuality and reproductive security are respected, eliminating all the judicial and administrative barriers that obstruct access to this right.
After more than 6 years of the judicialization of the guide, it is time for the court to be issued in this case that, in its own words, “has the maximum social significance and public interest.”
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Writer: Mayca Balaguer
