article 30 coverage plus constitutional questions

[mountainannie]

First this NOT about the content of the said article which will get the thread closed really fast but about the process...

according to the senate.gov.do website, this and all the new articles will have to have a second reading

yet all the papers AND a legislator that i interviewed seem to be reporting that it has passed and is now law.

i don't understand

of course, it is already hard for me to understand how a nation can make it so easy to "reform" the constution. In the States, it is a HUGE process - has to go to each state and must pass by a 2/3 majority - which is why we have so few amendments.

please enlighten me on the process here.
thanks

[suarezn]

I think it's about the same in The DR in that it has to pass by 2/3 majority (133 votes out of 199 I believe). Anyhow it passed easily with 167 votes and it's a safe assumption that it will pass again if it needs to go to some second round of discussion and it will also be signed into law by the president, since he was the one who proposed it.

What I'm trying to understand is what does Leonel have to gain by proposing this at this point in his political career? Like they always say "follow the money"...I'm sure there's something...maybe it's just a distraction from the real objective of the reform, which is him being able to run for president again. Everyone knew this was going to be controversial and basically dominate the discussions, while other very important things got passed without much discussion.

Hey like Balaguer once said "The constitution is just a piece of paper..." Leonel is just trying to follow his lead.

[mountainannie]

Originally Posted by suarezn

I think it's about the same in The DR in that it has to pass by 2/3 majority (133 votes out of 199 I believe). Anyhow it passed easily with 167 votes and it's a safe assumption that it will pass again if it needs to go to some second round of discussion and it will also be signed into law by the president, since he was the one who proposed it.

What I'm trying to understand is what does Leonel have to gain by proposing this at this point in his political career? Like they always say "follow the money"...I'm sure there's something...maybe it's just a distraction from the real objective of the reform, which is him being able to run for president again. Everyone knew this was going to be controversial and basically dominate the discussions, while other very important things got passed without much discussion.

Hey like Balaguer once said "The constitution is just a piece of paper..." Leonel is just trying to follow his lead.

yeah - since most of doctors have said that they will not abide by the ruling (as they don't enforce the law on the books now) it does seem that it was just passed to placate the Church.... but it doesn't do much to secure a nation of laws.. (and law abiding)

[Hillbilly]

Many of my people think that it will either be modified or even eliminated during the second round...this is something that is already covered in the Penal Code and need not be a Constitutional issue...however, certain Church figures insisted on this headache, for which I think Leonel is not in the least pleased....

A radical right to life policy, as defined by the words "from conception..." makes birth control nearly illegal and certainly the Day After Pill. It also makes things difficult for the courts for, after all the mother has a right to life too.

So, when there is a pregnancy that threatens the mother's life, what to do??? Do you kill one person (by their definition) or risk the loss of two? iT IS never so simple as that.

HB

[A.Hidalgo]

I agree there will be some modification on the second round. Many progressive women organizations along with medical groups have taken the lead and have hit the pavement with protests. If Leonel wanted to placate the church along with conservative groups he surely made it contentious by the wording he used on that article.

[A.Hidalgo]

And hit the pavement they did.

SANTO DOMINGO.- Hundreds of people from different provinces gathered in front of the Santo Domingo State University (UASD), from where they marching toward Congress, demanding that the lawmakers revoke Article 30 that criminalizes most forms of abortion, approved last week by the Constitution’s Revisory Assembly in a first roll call.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/loc...nican-Congress

[A.Hidalgo]

Does anybody know if there is scheduled a referendum on this overhaul of the constitution . Other LA countries have done this like Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. No reason why it could not be done here or are the folks in power afraid of being surprised by what el pueblo might say.

[mountainannie]

Originally Posted by A.Hidalgo

Does anybody know if there is scheduled a referendum on this overhaul of the constitution . Other LA countries have done this like Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. No reason why it could not be done here or are the folks in power afraid of being surprised by what el pueblo might say.

No as far as I know they can just amend it themselves..... they may pass the abortion hot potato off to referendum since there are such vocal protests... but they do not have to.

[Chirimoya]

SANTO DOMINGO.- Hundreds of people from different provinces gathered in front of the Santo Domingo State University (UASD), from where they marching toward Congress, demanding that the lawmakers revoke Article 30 that criminalizes most forms of abortion, approved last week by the Constitution’s Revisory Assembly in a first roll call.

Bolding mine - the article is mistaken - 'most' should read 'all'. This is precisely why they were protesting - because Article 30 permits no exceptions to the ban whatsoever. Not even in the cases of a gang-raped 9-year old girl whose body cannot sustain a pregnancy or of a woman with an unviable ectopic pregnancy that puts her life at risk.

I'd ask any of those legislators who voted in favour of Article 30 to tell me honestly what they would do if it were them, their wife, girlfriend, sister or daughter in that position, but I won't bother, because I already know what their answers would be.

[À bientôt]

Glad to see this hasn't been closed yet. When that cool guy Hose-B wrote about Artículo 30 in the 'General Stuff' forum, those super-religious Dominican-York moderators closed it in a NY minute.