Ecuadoran representative leaves ruling party after harassment over position on abortion

Quito, Ecuador, Apr 3, 2008 / 18:09 pm

Representative Rossana Queirolo of Ecuador has decided to leave the ruling party Acuerdo Pais after an intense campaign by party officials to get her to change her position on abortion and the family.

Queirolo, who is a representative in the country’s Constitutional Assembly, said she would continue working with the Acuerdo Pais party “in issues that benefit the majority” of Ecuadorans but that she would no longer be a party member.  She made her decision after she learned of the agreement made on Tuesday between party members and President Rafael Correa.

“At first I was pleased that they reached an agreement and a consensus at the meeting. But I am not in agreement with three of the six points,” she said, noting that the agreement left the door open for the legalization of abortion and same-sex unions.

“Point 4 of the agreement says that the new constitution would protect life from the moment of conception. However, I think I have been very clear and I have explained the dangers of allowing exceptions,” she said.

She said that by leaving the door open, the current government and future governments could pass laws that would expand abortion and legalize it, “which would be terrible.”

Queirolo also expressed her concern that the agreement would “leave the door open to proposals of alternative families, which I do not agree with,” and “to same-sex unions, because it recognizes civil unions without specifying between which sexes.”

She also noted that party leaders were always aware of her political and moral positions and nonetheless accepted her participating in the Assembly as a member of the party. 

In recent weeks, Queirolo and Diana Acosta became the principal voices in defense of human life without exceptions and of protecting marriage between a man and a woman in the new constitution.

As a consequence they became the target of attacks and harassment by members of their own party, who said they should have the “decency” to resign for not sharing the official party position.