Lago Agrio issues ordinance to eradicate pregnancy in girls and adolescents

The Municipal Council of the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of the Lago Agrio Canton issued the Ordinance for the Prevention and Eradication of Pregnancy in Girls and Adolescents of the Lago Agrio Canton, published in the Official Registry Special Edition No. 1683 on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, with the official reference 690-2026. The regulation mandates the municipality, public and private entities, and the community to execute prevention, care, and follow-up actions throughout the cantonal territory. Mayor Abraham Alfredo Freire Paz sanctioned the text on September 24, 2026, and ordered its promulgation and publication.

Processing and validity of the regulation

The ordinance was approved in first and second debate by the Municipal Council in extraordinary sessions held on June 27, 2025, and September 22, 2026, in accordance with article 322 of the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization (COOTAD). The sanction was signed in Nueva Loja on September 24, 2026, at 15:00, and the corresponding certification bears the signature of the council secretary Wilmer Anastacio Zambrano Guerrero. The final provision establishes that the regulation enters into force from the date of its sanction, without prejudice to its publication in the Official Registry.

The text is based on article 264 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and articles 7 and 57 of the COOTAD, and develops the powers that article 38 of the Comprehensive Organic Law to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women assigns to autonomous decentralized governments.

The figures motivating the ordinance

The statement of motives includes the following data:

• 60.7% of women nationwide have suffered some type of violence, according to the 2011 INEC survey; 13.8% suffered sexual abuse by age 14, and it is projected that 6.7% of women have been raped, approximately 380,000 in the country.
• The most recurrent forms of violence are psychological (53.9%), physical (38%), patrimonial (35.3%), and sexual (25.7%).
• The 2012 EDNA report determined that 78% of girls have suffered abuse in their homes and 41% in educational institutions; 69% of girls between 10 and 15 years old suffered sexual violence.
• The Cantonal Board for the Protection of Rights recorded a total of 300 processes for violence against girls and adolescents in 2023, with 554 affected girls, boys, and adolescents.
• In Sucumbíos, 690 boys and girls were born to women under 15 and from 15 to 19 years old, according to the 2021 Vital Statistics Yearbook; in Lago Agrio, 444 cases of pregnant girls and adolescents were recorded in 2023.

Duties of the municipality and the community

The Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of the Lago Agrio Canton will execute the ordinance through the Social Action Unit, from the Gender Equity Area and the Youth, Childhood, and Adolescence Area, in coordination with the Cantonal Council for the Protection of Rights. Its obligations include:

• Strengthening the Council for the Protection of Rights with a specialized technical team.
• Implementing authorized medications from the Ministry of Public Health in the solidarity pharmacy to prevent unplanned pregnancies, including emergency contraception.
• Immediately providing emergency medicine and antiretrovirals to girls and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence.
• Generating school continuity programs for those who have become pregnant due to sexual violence.
• Guaranteeing a physical welcoming space with psychological, pedagogical, and social support.
• Promoting the participation of young women as beauty ambassadors only from the age of 18.

Private entities must align their plans with the Intersectoral Policy for the Prevention of Pregnancy in Girls and Adolescents (PIPENA), and local media outlets must maintain permanent programs on the subject.

Cantonal committee, annual plan, and financing

The Cantonal Committee for the Prevention and Eradication of Pregnancy in Girls and Adolescents is created, presided over by the Cantonal Council for the Protection of Rights, which will meet quarterly with a notice of at least 48 hours. It is composed of the Judiciary Council, the Attorney General’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, the ministries of Government, Public Health, Education, and Human Development, the cantonal boards and councils for the protection of rights, the parish GADs, social and non-governmental organizations, local media, and the Cantonal Advisory Council for Childhood and Adolescence.

The first annual plan must be developed within 90 days after publication and articulated with the Development and Territorial Ordering Plan. Its financing comes from 10% of non-tax revenues and 5% of the resources from the Development Fund provided for in the Organic Reformatory Law to the Organic Law for the Integral Planning of the Special Amazonian Territorial Circumscription. Every September 26, Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Day, the Committee will render accounts.

The ordinance converts a structural problem in Sucumbíos into a cantonal public policy with identified responsible parties, deadlines, and budgets, and transfers concrete prevention and support duties to families, schools, and local organizations.

Source: Official Registry, Special Edition No. 1683, Wednesday, October 7, 2026, Municipal Ordinances section, p. 2 (official reference: 690-2026).