In a 5-4 decision last week in Bogotá, the Constitutional Court of Colombia legalized abortion up to 24 weeks. It marks a monumental shift not only in the majority Catholic country but in Latin America as the nation becomes the third largest in the region–joining Mexico and Argentina– to decriminalize abortion in the last 14 months.
Prior to this decision, abortion in Colombia was allowed only if the life of the mother was in danger, the baby had abnormalities, or the mother was a victim of rape or incest.
In legislating from the bench, the court brazenly usurped the authority of the Colombian Congress, which is the sole branch of government that can pass legislation in the country. Elected by and responsible to the people, the Congress had no intention of legalizing abortion prior to the decision, which is why pro-abortion advocates used the court system, dominated by liberals, to bypass Congress and the will of the people.
The Colombian Constitutional Court ruling is just the latest case of unelected liberal judges bypassing the will of the people by forcing unpopular left-wing policies on a country. Whenever leftists are unable to win at the ballot box, they try to get their agenda put into law by taking their case to the judiciary, whose members are generally much more to the left of the average citizen. For example, in 1973 the left-wing United States Supreme forced abortion on the American people. Prior to the decision, the overwhelming majority of Americans were opposed to abortion, with 46 out of 50 states having either outlawed abortion completely or allowed it in only the cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother was in danger. Gay “marriage” was similarly forced on the American people by leftist courts. Before 2002, gay “marriage” was not recognized in any of the 50 U.S. states. Beginning in 2003, however, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court forced gay “marriage” on the people of that state, state and federal courts led the charge to force it on the country; culminating in the 2015 United States Supreme Court ruling that held gay “marriage” was a Constitutional right and hence legal in all 50 states. Likewise, it was the leftist Mexican Supreme Court legislating from the bench that forced abortion on the Mexican people last September. And now the Colombian Constitutional Court has followed suit.
What can people do to prevent left-wing constitutional court judges from legislating from the bench and imposing left-wing laws on the people? Several options should be considered.
- First, the people could amend their country’s constitution, and thus overrule or preempt the decisions of leftist courts, to forbid abortion, gay “marriage”, transgenderism, etc.; however, amending the constitution can be a cumbersome and long process.
- Second, the people could get their congressmen to expressly remove issues like abortion, gay “marriage”, LGBT issues, and the like from the jurisdiction of constitutional courts.
- Third, the people could get their Congress to pass a law that allows any constitutional court decision to be overruled by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature, say within six months of the ruling.
- Fourth, the people could get their congressmen to make judges initially appointed to the state constitutional court face popular election, say every 10 years. (If a constitution forbids actions in points 2-4 above, a constitutional amendment would be necessary, thus making the process more difficult….)
These are just some things to consider.
So there you have it. Yet another left-wing judiciary, this time in Colombia, has usurped the power of the legislative branch and imposed yet another unpopular left-wing policy on a country. It is time that the people, and their congressional representatives, finally reign in their rogue judiciary before more left-wing judges force more elements of the radical sexual and LGBT agenda on their countries.
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