(LifeSiteNews) — For decades, the Dominican Republic, where abortion has been banned since 1884, has been under tremendous pressure from international abortion networks and the feminist movement to decriminalize abortion and allow it under some circumstance.

But despite these well-funded groups and their well-organized campaigns, which had the support of the country’s major media, the people of this Caribbean country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, have always said no.

On July 31, 2025, speaking through their elected representatives in the Congress of the Dominican Republic, they did so again.

In their latest legislative attack on life, the abortion movement tried to use the passage of the DR’s new Penal Code – known in Spanish as Ley Orgánica, 74-25 – to legalize abortion under certain circumstances. They proposed an amendment that would have allowed abortion on various grounds – birth defects, rape and incest, and “health” of the mother.  As pro-lifers are well aware, “health of the mother” can be so broadly defined (physical health? mental health? financial health?) that it is often a carte blanche for abortion. Furthermore, abortion is never necessary to protect a woman’s health.

But when the amendment was introduced in Chamber of Deputies (equivalent to U.S. House of Representatives), it was overwhelmingly defeated on a vote of 159 to 4.

The Chamber of Deputies, after a final 14-hour session on July 30, 2025, went on to approve the new Penal Code by the same margin: 159 votes in favor, with a mere 4 against. The bill then went to the Senate, where it was approved by all but one of the senators present the following day, July 31, 2025.

After that the new Penal Code was sent to the country’s president, Luis Abinader, who signed it into law on August 3, 2025. The Code reaffirms the constitutional protection of life from conception with no exceptions. In other words, it imposes a total ban on abortion.

The Dominican Republic’s pro-life movement, though underfunded and without media support, has again scored a resounding victory. But it wasn’t easy, says Loren Montalvo, Alliance Defending Freedom’s representative in the country.

Ms. Montalvo, who is an attorney, explained to PRI that: “This fight has been going on for decades. First they tried to introduce abortion through the health code, then through the criminal code. But each time they were stopped by Article 37 of the Constitution, which states that the right to life is inviolable from conception to natural death. While we did all we could with our own resources, the other side had well-funded groups, mobilization campaigns, and allies in the media.”

The Dominican pro-life movement, which has few resources, is on paper no match for national abortion organizations like Profamilia or regional pro-abortion organizations such as Latin American Consortium Against Unsafe Abortion or CLACAI (In Spanish, “Consorcio Latinoamericano Contra el Aborto Inseguro).

Moreover, there were more than 20 (twenty!) feminist groups involved in the campaign to legalize abortion, including Catholics for the Right to Decide, the Cibao Women’s Coordinator, the Women’s Support Center, the Mirabal Sisters Feminist Movement, the Podemos Coalition, the Popular Urban Network, and the Citizen Forum.

As if this weren’t enough, the Dominican Republic was under pressure from the international networks of such groups as Catholics for the Right to Decide, the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM), International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, or CIDH in Spanish).

The IACHR, for example, has repeatedly criticized the DR’s restrictions on abortion, calling the ban a “violation” of rights to life, personal integrity, health, non-discrimination, and freedom from violence under the American Convention.

As Carlos Polo, director of Population Research Institute’s Latin American office notes: “All of the above organizations—and more–are actively involved in pushing the decriminalization of abortion throughout Latin America under the guise of ‘sexual and reproductive rights.’ They all engage political advocacy through awareness-raising campaigns and advisory services. They all promote, to one degree or another, chemical abortions.”

“In the Dominican Republic,” Polo added, “this huge international consortium of groups were all pushing the Congress to legalize abortion under some circumstances. Regional organizations like the Latin American Consortium Against Unsafe Abortion or CLACAI, which we are publishing a major research report on, play an important role.”

Now that you understand what a David vs. Goliath struggle pro-lifers in the Dominican Republic have been in, you will appreciate the monumental victory they have achieved even more.

This small country of only 11 million has created a culture of respect for life, in society and in government, that the United States and Canada would do well to emulate.

Unsurprisingly, congressional approval of the now-Penal Code provoked angry responses from feminist groups, one of which claimed that the ban on abortion “violates the fundamental rights of citizens, particularly those of women and children.”

We would say that the new Penal Code protects the most fundamental right of all – the right to life.

Manuela Vargas, who heads the Women’s Support Center, went even further: “The exclusion of the three causes of abortion [birth defects, rape and incest, and “health of the mother”] is equivalent to allowing more women to die.”

This complaint is equally nonsensical, since women do not die if their baby has a birth defect, nor from rape or incest, however despicable these crimes are. Nor do they die from pregnancy. Obstetricians affirm that it is never the case that an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life.

The Dominican Republic has sent a clear message to those who seek to coerce this small democracy into accepting abortion: In our country, life is not negotiable.

“This victory means a lot to us,” Loren Montalvo noted.  “Our current Penal Code criminalizes [abortion] and now the new Penal Code maintains this.”

One thing is certain: Those who have promoted the abortion agenda will not stop.

PRI’s Carlos Polo warns that “A number of the above-mentioned abortion groups have already announced that they will be back. They will continue to pressure the government of the Dominican Republic in every way possible, from lawsuits and media campaigns, to local demonstrations and international pressure – to change the Penal Code.”

“That’s why we in the pro-life moment must remain vigilant, organized, and on the offensive, not just in the Dominican Republic, but around the world,” Polo continued. “Lives are at stake, and passivity is not an option.”

The victory in the Dominican Republic reminds us that, however powerful the forces arrayed against us, pro-lifers can win these battles.