In recent years, Colombia has established itself as one of the countries with the most advanced legal framework on abortion in Latin America. However, legislative progress does not always translate into effective access for all women and pregnant people.
Women’s Link Worldwide (WLW) spoke with Alejandra Alemán, a WLW attorney, to better understand the current state of abortion rights in Colombia, the changes following decriminalization, and the main challenges that remain; it was published on 9 April 2026.
The second article, “Building Reproductive Justice with Women of African Descent”, is shared below.
I. The Right to Abortion in Colombia: An Interview with Alejandra Alemán
by Women’s Link Worldwide (WLW)
“In recent years, Colombia has established itself as one of the countries with the most advanced legal framework on abortion in Latin America. However, legislative progress does not always translate into effective access for all women and pregnant people.
We spoke with Alejandra Alemán, an attorney at Women’s Link, to better understand the current state of abortion rights in Colombia, the changes following decriminalization, and the main challenges that remain.
What is the current legal framework for abortion in Colombia?
The legal framework for abortion in Colombia is the result of a progressive development led primarily by the Constitutional Court.
The first key milestone was Ruling C-355 of 2006, which decriminalized abortion under three grounds: risk to the woman’s life or health, when there is a fetal malformation incompatible with life, and when the pregnancy is the result of sexual violence.
This decision marked a turning point: abortion ceased to be treated exclusively as a crime and began to be recognized as a health service guaranteed under certain conditions.
More recently, in February 2022, the Constitutional Court issued Ruling C-055 of 2022, which expanded the decriminalization of abortion up to the 24th week of gestation without the need to invoke any specific grounds. After that period, the three grounds established in 2006 remain in effect.
Between these two decisions, there was also significant jurisprudential development that allowed the law to be adapted to the country’s realities. For example, inequalities in access to health services between rural and urban areas were recognized. This led to avoiding the imposition of strict limits in contexts where accessing services can be complex and time-consuming.
At the regulatory level, the Ministry of Health has also made progress in implementing this, particularly through Resolution 051 of 2023, which establishes technical guidelines to ensure comprehensive care for voluntary termination of pregnancy within the health system.
What have been the main changes from decriminalization to the 24th week?
The 2022 decision not only transformed the legal framework but has also had concrete impacts on the lives of women and pregnant people in Colombia.
One of the most significant changes has been the increased access to safe abortion services. This has contributed to a significant reduction in clandestine procedures, which often pose greater risks to health and even life.
There has also been an increase in abortions performed in earlier stages of pregnancy, especially through pharmacological methods and before the 12th week. This is directly related to the ability to access legal services and timely information.
Furthermore, decriminalization has encouraged greater information-seeking and the expansion of service coverage across different regions of the country. Although abortion had been a right since 2006 under certain grounds, the 2022 decision has allowed access to extend to more areas.
Despite these advances, what barriers remain?
Although Colombia has made significant progress, access to abortion continues to face multiple barriers.
On the one hand, there are deeply entrenched structural barriers. Social stigma surrounding abortion, racism, the effects of armed conflict, and other forms of discrimination disproportionately affect women in rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant, and migrant communities.
On the other hand, obstacles persist in the implementation of the legal framework. This includes restrictive interpretations of the regulations, the imposition of illegal requirements, and the misuse of conscientious objection by some health care providers.
A key issue is that, despite decriminalization up to the 24th week, abortion remains a criminal offense under the Penal Code. This allows cases of criminalization to continue, creating legal uncertainty and limiting effective access.
Likewise, barriers exist within the healthcare system. Not all medical centers have the resources, training, or willingness to provide the service, especially in more remote regions.
It is also important to understand how attempts to limit this right have unfolded. In Colombia, there is no real risk that it will disappear, as the Constitutional Court’s ruling takes precedence even over any law enacted by Congress. Nevertheless, there are ongoing efforts by sectors opposed to these rights to promote regulations that contradict the Constitutional Court’s ruling. Although such initiatives lack legal effect because they contradict the Court’s decision, they do create uncertainty and can lead to practical barriers that hinder access.
Finally, misinformation remains one of the greatest challenges. Many people are still unaware that abortion is legal in Colombia up to the 24th week, highlighting the need to strengthen outreach and education strategies.
While Colombia has made progress toward the legal decriminalization of abortion, the major challenge that remains is social decriminalization.
This involves not only ensuring effective access to services but also transforming social perceptions, reducing stigma, and ensuring that everyone is aware of and able to exercise their rights.
Achieving this requires a joint effort between the government, civil society organizations, and society at large so that the right to abortion is not merely on paper but a reality accessible to all.
II. Building Reproductive Justice with Women of African Descent
In February, our legal associate at Women’s Link, Eliana Alcalá De Ávila, participated in a community meeting in Cali, Colombia, alongside women leaders and women of African descent from the organizations La Comadre and AFRODES. The goal was to share information about access to abortion in the country from an intersectional perspective and to open a conversation about the specific barriers that Black women—women of African descent—face in exercising their sexual and reproductive rights.
The gathering took place in Llano Verde, a neighbourhood in the Aguablanca district that is home to a significant Afro-descendant population and has welcomed many people displaced by violence in the country. There, at a local public school, the women who organized the event welcomed us with a deeply meaningful gesture: a space for harmonization to begin the day.
In the centre of the circle were medicinal plants, flowers, gourd vessels, and dolls crafted by the communities themselves. Each object held a meaning. The plants evoked ancestral knowledge linked to sexual and reproductive health care; the gourd vessels represented the uterus; and the dolls symbolized the stories and experiences of women of African descent in their territories. That initial moment was followed by a conversation grounded in respect for community knowledge and the cultural practices that sustain the communities.
One of the leaders opened the session by reflecting on what it means to speak of reproductive justice for Black women. She recalled that their experiences with sexual and reproductive health are deeply intersected by structural racism and racial stereotypes that have shaped the way they are treated by the healthcare system.
“For many Black women, abortion is not just a sensitive or stigmatized issue. Historically, it has also been a form of resistance dating back to slavery and recognizing that completely changes the way we understand these discussions,” Eliana noted.
During the meeting, Eliana shared information about Ruling C-055 of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, which decriminalized abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy. The conversation centered on the participants’ specific experiences: the barriers they face in accessing health services, the violence they have endured in medical facilities, and the lack of clear information about their rights. Many women shared personal stories of obstetric violence and racial discrimination in hospitals. They recalled how, during childbirth, healthcare professionals told them they could endure more pain “because they were Black women.”
Other participants spoke of the pressure they faced from childhood to use contraception and how they were influenced by racial stereotypes regarding the sexuality of women of African descent. During the meeting, Eliana shared legal tools to address these barriers, such as the tutela action and other mechanisms that allow for the enforcement of rights. For many of the participants, this was the first time they had heard of these tools.
“Many didn’t know that abortion is decriminalized up to the 24th week, or that after that point there are still grounds that must be respected by the healthcare system. So being able to share that information, explain what to do when facing barriers, and what legal tools exist to demand their rights, was something they deeply valued,” Eliana explained.
At the end of the meeting, the participants wrote down what reproductive justice means to them. Their responses were diverse: being able to make decisions about their own bodies, receiving medical care without discrimination, accessing clear information about contraceptives, and being heard when they speak from their own knowledge and experiences. One of the reflections that resonated most with Eliana was that of a woman who said that reproductive justice for her means “the freedom to do whatever I want with my body.”
“These spaces ground us in the real-life experiences of the women we work with. They allow us to analyze how multiple forms of discrimination intersect: being a woman, being of African descent, living in a context of poverty, violence, or displacement. Understanding these intersections is essential for our work to make sense,” reflected Eliana.
At Women’s Link, these gatherings are an essential part of our work, combining strategic litigation with community organizing to democratize the law. We believe in and promote capacity-building for communities and organizations that defend rights in their territories. The event served as a reminder of the importance of holding collective gatherings that drive transformation toward different ways of understanding reproductive justice.
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Editor’s comment: The two reports shared above are an in-depth presentation of the history, except that they leave out the crucial role played by many Colombian feminists, individuals and groups, who campaigned for abortion law reform over many years and put pressure on the Constitutional Court and the Health Ministry, which played a crucial role in achieving the desired law reform. During those years, the ICWRSA Newsletter published reports and a number of articles by those and many other activists in different years when their advocacy campaigns were most active.
One of the abortion rights advocate loved and admired by many of us was Maria Isabel Plata, who retired about a decade ago, who died in 2023. See also, for example, in the IJGO of 30 October 2018, an article by a group of the other activists who contributed so much towards law reform: Bianca M Stifani, Laura Gil Urbano, Ana Cristina Gonzalez Velez, and Cristina Villarreal Valásquez : https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijgo.12672
and in the IJGO of 20 November 2022: an article by Isabelle C Jaramillo Sierra:
The new Colombian law on abortion: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijgo.14551