Guatemala Congress on Tuesday approved a law prohibiting same-sex marriage and teaching about sexual diversity in schools. The new law also boosts punishment for women who choose to have an abortion, raising the prison sentence from earlier 5 to 10 years to up to 25 years.
#UPDATE Guatemala Congress approves a law ramping up the prison sentence for women who choose to have an abortion, while prohibiting both gay marriage and teaching on sexual diversity.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 9, 2022
The Life and Family Protection Law punishes women who have an abortion to 10 years in jail pic.twitter.com/DvtiUN1fBG
The law, which was proposed by the conservative Viva Party, was unexpectedly passed by a large majority of legislators, including allies of incumbent President Alejandro Giammattei.
For the last three years, since 2018, the law had been kept on ice, and it still has to be published in the official gazette to become operational.
Earlier, the penalty for committing abortion was between five to ten years, except when the life of the mother is in danger. Under the provisions of the new law, this punishment has been boosted to up to 25 years of prison term.
Committing Abortion in Guatemala is considered an offence, except when it is needed to save the woman’s life. Before 1973, it was illegal without any exception. The Congressional Decree 17-73 in September 1973 changed the penal code to allow an exception pertaining to abortions in cases in which the pregnant woman’s life is in mortal danger.
In addition to this, the law proscribes educating children and young adults about sexual diversity and gender ideology and specifies that no orientation besides heterosexuality is “normal”.
The legislation, which was passed on International Woman’s Day, attracted sharp criticism from social activists and politicians, who claimed that it infringed upon the individual rights of the people concerned. Jordan Rodas, Guatemala’s human rights ombudsman, is preparing to challenge the law on human rights grounds.
“It violates human rights, it runs counter to the international agreements ratified by Guatemala, it is a setback to freedoms,” Rodas said while talking to reporters outside Congress.
