About the legal interruption of pregnancy

Published in Los Tiempos, 11 July 2018.

In Bolivia, abortion is considered a crime. However, the legal interruption of pregnancy (LIP) is considered in cases of rape, statutory rape, incest or situations that entail a danger to the life or health of the woman. Pointed at the principles of clinical psychology, nothing authorizes to be neither in favor nor against abortion, because there cannot be, for a patient, something more pernicious than a psychologist with prejudices. But one can contribute to the debate from the practice. The psychological consultation is a tool where privacy can be displayed without fear of being prejudged or segregated.

There are many issues that are argued in favor or against the LIP and different disciplines address these. However, the truth is that ultimately it will be the desire of a woman who decides to interrupt a pregnancy or not, beyond the context, circumstances and laws. The laws are given in a specific historical context and change over time: divorce, sexual and reproductive rights, sex change, issues that were the subject of debate, there is currently a controversy over the LIP.

A part of society was opposed, for example, to the law of divorce using different arguments, now people divorce, not because the law allows it, but because they want, either because love is over, the relationship became unbearable, etc. Nor should we expect women to resort to abortion because it is legal. But surely the characteristics of their own practice change: the interruption of a pregnancy carried out under conditions of bio-security has less harmful consequences than a clandestine abortion.

Another question is to situate what a child means to a mother: it can come to occupy a place in desire, but it can also be rejected, take the place of a rest. The decision to interrupt a pregnancy, regardless of whether it is legal, is the desire to be a mother or not. For a woman, abortion can be a false symptomatic exit to a conflict and involve a psychic trauma; or it may also be part of a possible solution and / or the exercise of their sexual and reproductive rights; but it can also be experienced like any other medical practice. For each abortion is unique, because each woman is unique.