Representatives of the organization assure that it was all a misunderstanding

In trouble, he saw himself Colombian Medical College (CMC) after sharing an article Michael Cook, entitled: “New horizons for surrogacy: gestational donation of the whole body”, “Nuevos horizontes para la gestación subrogada: donación gestacional de cuerpo integer”, in Spanish; in which he analyzes in depth the work of the Norwegian researcher Anna Smajdor, which has the same name. Smajdor, in his study of surrogate mothers, contemplates the use of brain-dead women as surrogate mothers, provided they have made an advance directive.

From time to time, the CMC became the target of criticism from those who “misinterpreted” the publication and thought it was an official position of the organization; when, the reality is that, as in the other texts written by third parties that they share on their news portal (Epicrisis), at the end of the article, the following clarification was read: “The opinion and personal concepts expressed in articles signed by a third party do not reflect the position of Epicrisis or the Colombian Medical Association”.

epicrisis is the official communication organ of the CMC, a digital blog in which they share not only their positions, but also news related to scientific advances and discoveries in the field of medicine and bioethical debatesthat disseminate knowledge and generate discussions among its members.

what, according to Samuel Barbosasecretary and project coordinator of the Colombian Medical Association, “That does not mean that presenting these discussions and what is happening globally makes it a position of CMC, in fact, we we are not in favor of surrogate wombs in women with brain death. This is not the position of the CMC”, he commented exclusively for GlobeLiveMedia Colombia.

It remains to be seen how important it was to share this debate, considered by feminist groups as a direct violation of reproductive rights Women’s. Especially, after the CMC indicated that its position is totally contrary to the text.

“As CMC, we believe that women are the guardians of their sexual and reproductive rights and that respect and respect for these rights must be ensured. They are in no way objects of instrumentalization and we do not agree with that. We are sharing this news because this is a bioethical discussion that is happening around the world,” Samuel said.

For the best or for the worst the article ended up being deleted from the “Bioethics” section of the portal; since, ultimately, there was no discussion Regarding its content, the discussion was diverted and fell on the CMC: “We understand that it has been misinterpreted. But we have received an expression of digital violence from netizens and many others. So we tried to call for non-violence, understanding that there was a very negative reaction.”

The organization had to publicly apologize, despite the fact that the “misunderstanding” was with those who did not read the text in its entirety. However, They admit that they weren’t quite clear when they shared the article online, along with a description that most netizens ended up with: “We know that ‘brain-dead’ women can have full-term pregnancies; Why not initiate pregnancies to help childless couples?

“Why apologize if no mistake was made? because We understood there was a perception of offense from the CMC to women. And we didn’t want to disrespect them at any time”, so, in short, “we wanted to recognize that there was a risk by exposing news that was not well understood, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, it was a call for non-violence. We apologize for the misinterpretation they gave,” Samuel explained.

Therefore, the second part of the study will not be reproduced on his blog. Even if, before sharing an article on Epicrisis, this passes through several filters and an analysis process in which it is verified that their debate is supported by academic and scientific studies, whose sources are verifiable.

“Our editorial criteria go through an academic review of reliable sources and discussions supported by scientific processes. They obey the publications in international journals, they obey the analyzes of experts and they also obey the knowledge of the debates on subjects of interest, relevant to medical science”, commented the CMC.

And, including, with a law Projectwhich aims to regulate surrogacy, ad-portas to be analyzed in Congress “The CMC has not taken a position, because it knows and analyzes the question in depth. When he takes a position on the project, he will let it be known”.

Their slogan, they say, has always been the same: respect for women’s sexual and reproductive rights; women as guarantors of rights and not as objects of instrumentalization, and the fight against all types of violence, including gender violence and the digital violence. “For this reason, in this case, as an act of peace and non-violence, we have decided to give in to the demands that were being presented and express an apology.”

“Epicrisis will continue to post news of the debate International and knowledge of global medical science so that people can consult, analyze, understand and learn more about what is happening with medical advances and the discussions that are presented about these advances,” they ratified.

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