#3 Colombia

In this episode of CHOICE we are focussing on abortion rights in
Colombia. We are talking to Mónica Roa, a Colombian
Lawyer for Human Rights. She is founder and director of
the organization BRIDGES and has been working for Women’s Link
Worldwide  for more than 12 years. In 2006 she became a
public figure when she filed a constitutional lawsuit that resulted
in the liberalization of abortion laws in
Colombia. Our second guest is Franziska Pröll - a
freelance german Journalist that – during the last year - has been
reporting from Colombia on social an educational topics, amongst
others for or the german newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung and ZEIT online. „Reproductive rights means that YOU are
the one that gets to decide if you want to use contraceptives, if
you want an abortion or if you want to have a child. And the state
cannot impose that decision on you. During those years of conflict
women within the guerrilla were being forced to have abortions,
women outside the guerrilla in urban life were being prohibited to
have an abortion - in both cases the state was not protecting or
respecting our reproductive rights.“ (Mónica Roa)