Constitutional Court clarifies the scope of the ruling on adolescent sexual rights
Ecuadornews:
The Constitutional Court (CC) issued a statement clarifying the scope of the sentence in which it states that adolescents have the right to enjoy a “satisfactory and risk-free sexual life” and to decide on their reproductive life “in a free, responsible and informed way “, As subjects full of rights and by virtue of the principle of autonomy.
The Court explains that it was not pronounced on the sexual relations of the adolescents, but on education around their sexual rights, as subjects of law.
The ruling clarifies, says the statement, that the power that adults have over adolescents, cannot be understood as absolute, “should be applied in the decisions that affect them, such as those related to the exercise of their sexual and reproductive rights, proportional to the level of their autonomy in relation to their age “.
In this sense, it ratifies the co-responsibility of the family and the State in relation to the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents.
“At no time the CC has ignored the fundamental role played by the family around the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents and their education … what they have done is to ratify the obligation of protection of the adolescent as a subject of rights” , the Court insists.
The CC reminds that the scope of concepts such as “adolescents” and their categorization between 12 and 18 years is defined by law, clarifies that it has not created any rights and denies that there is a risk of opening the door to sexual crimes or decriminalizing certain types. (I)