Hundreds of women wearing green bandanas demonstrated in favour of abortion rights in Colombia on Monday, as President Abelardo de la Espriella’s right-wing government called for stricter laws.
Abortion was legalised up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in 2022, following a landmark ruling by Colombia’s Constitutional Court.
De la Espriella, who took office in August, proposed reviewing the country’s abortion laws and called the right to abortion a ‘monstrosity’.
Demonstrators shouted slogans including ‘My uterus, my decision’ on Monday, International Safe Abortion Day, calling for access to legal and safe abortion.
For 20-year-old industrial chemist Mariana Millan, De la Espriella’s victory was an ‘offense’ to Colombian women. ‘There is no state, no God, no man who can decide about my body or my uterus,’ she said, her face covered with a bandana.
Colombia is among the Latin American countries that have recently seen a swing to the right.
SOURCE: New Age: The Outspoken Daily. Article and photo by Agence France-Presse . Bogota, Colombia, 30 September 2026.