Centro Ecuatoriano para la Promoción y Acción de la Mujer (CEPAM-Quito) in Quito supports the development of progressive public policy on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Ecuador. CEPAM-Quito also provides social, psychological, and legal services to women who have been subjected to violence and is beginning a microcredit program. 

In September 2007, Ecuador elected a national Assembly with full powers to rewrite its Constitution. IWHC supported CEPAM-Quito to collaborate with other organizations in the Ecuadorian women’s movement and participate in the Constitutional reforms. IWHC supported CEPAM from 2007-2010.

Apart from intensively advocating with the Assembly members, CEPAM-Quito and its partners produced newspaper and magazine articles, radio programs, and factsheets for policymakers on sexual and reproductive rights and health, which positively influenced the Constituent’s debate . With IWHC’s technical and financial support, CEPAM-Quito was able to ensure expansive sexual and reproductive rights language in the new Constitution. The Ecuadorian Constitution, which establishes in its first article that Ecuador is a secular state, now states that young people must receive sexuality education and that the State has the obligation to provide sexual and reproductive health services. Also, the new Constitution guarantees the right to personal integrity and includes the right to make free, informed, voluntary, and responsible decisions about one’s sexuality, sexual orientation, and reproductive life. Unfortunately, despite including articles against discrimination based on sexual orientation, the new Constitution also includes clauses that curtail the rights of same-sex couples by limiting adoption to heterosexual couples.

CEPAM-Quito is working in coalition with other women’s groups in Ecuador to protect the advances and ensure that new regulatory legislation properly protects women’s rights and health.

If you speak Spanish, learn more about CEPAM-Quito on their website.
 

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