The examination of the bill on the therapeutic interruption of pregnancy (ITG) by the National Assembly was once again withdrawn, Tuesday, May 17, from the agenda by the executive. The latter wishes to examine it on Wednesday in the Council of Government to make observations. This text, submitted in October 2021, has already been postponed three times.
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Laura Verneau
The Abortion Bill was not finally put on the agenda of the National Assembly on Tuesday, May 17. And it will not be examined by parliamentarians for the moment, contrary to what civil society had hoped. ” The government preferred to remove it from the agenda, the time to make observations “Explains Marie-Jeanne Masy Goulamaly, the MP who has been leading the project since October 2021, the very start of the second parliamentary session of the year. The text was then sent to the government in December.
According to the Constitution, the government has 30 days to make its observations, otherwise the National Assembly can proceed normally to the examination of the text. ” I prefer to wait, even if the executive is out of timecontinues the parliamentarian, pragmatic. I will need the deputies of the majority then to pass the law (the IRD deputies, from the presidential platform, are in the majority in the assembly, editor’s note). »
The text for therapeutic termination of pregnancy was however filed six months ago with the government. What happened in the meantime? A source close to the executive explains that he has no explanation, but recalls that when the law was tabled in October 2021, the country’s religious leaders strongly opposed it in a press release.
► To read also: Madagascar: the bill on the therapeutic termination of pregnancy is debated
Madagascar is one of the thirteen countries in the world that strictly condemn abortion, even for the most extreme cases (incest, rape or endangerment of the mother). Those who practice it clandestinely also fall under the scope of the law.