By The Star Staff
New Progressive Party (NPP) Rep. Yazzer Morales Díaz announced Thursday that he intends to withdraw his signature from a bill that seeks to criminalize abortion in Puerto Rico.
“There must be repercussions and I’m going to talk to the representative [who filed the bill],” the legislator said in a radio interview. “We are going to meet because my name is clearly there and that has caused us damage because what was spoken and what was wanted to be done is not what was settled on. There must be consequences. I am pro-life. Here what was being discussed was the gestation time.”
“I will proceed to withdraw my signature from the bill,” he added.
Morales Díaz noted that in turn, he prefers that a bill be presented in which three years in prison is imposed in the case where the gestation period exceeds 20 to 25 weeks.
“It went out of áproportion,” he said.
The bill in question was filed by NPP Reps. Wilson Román López, José “Memo” González Mercado, and Morales Díaz.
González Mercado wrote on his social networks that: “I am a believer, that is not a secret.”
“Christianity is tolerant, it is democratic, without imposing vision or criteria on anyone. On the contrary. Everyone who knows me knows that I have been a consistent advocate for women’s rights and protections since I entered the Legislature,” he wrote. “Finally, he made it clear that the defense of life is not incongruous with the struggle for equal rights for women, something I have always done and will continue to do. Without a doubt we have to work out this situation taking into account all positions.”