The decriminalization of abortion in some cases and under certain circumstances Considerations about sentence c-355 of 2006 of the Colombian constitutional court.

Abstract

Sentence C - 355 of May 10th of 2006 of the Colombian Constitutional Court decriminalized abortion in some cases and under certain circumstances. Based on this sentence and on the philosophic and legal aspects which have been reiterated in precedent decisions from previous years, this article reviews some main subjects that should be approached in a public debate about the institutional role of the Constitutional Tribunal in the country in view to its reformation. Subjects as already judged constitutional matters (constitutional res judicata), the Court as a political organism and the crisis of the constitutional interpretation. Starting from this analysis, the author concludes that some constitutional principles have lost their substance because of the performance of the Tribunal in this specific case. The consequence of it is that the organism decreases in its capability to endow with law predictability and interpretative certainty the national legal order. Also, the thesis of being before a “government of the judges” is suggested.