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Lawyers Nassef Perdomo, Cristobal Rodriguez, Eduardo Jorge Prats and Josue Fiallo explained to students the pros and cons of the new Constitution that is due to go into effect on 11 December, as reported in Hoy. At the gathering, “Constitutional Reform: Progress or Setback,” Perdomo and Rodriguez spoke up on the cons of the new Constitution, including clauses that impede citizens from protesting its violations and the approval of the Art 38 (formerly 30) that bans any form of abortion. Jorge and Fiallo sought to convince the students that the 2009 Constitution took into consideration 90% of the opinions coming from national consultations prior to the convening of Congress for the final decision on what should go in and what should be left out.

Law students of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, the largest Dominican private university, organized the debates.

A vote was called before the debates and of 200 students, 59% described the 2009 Constitution as a setback, 19% as a step forward and 22% were undecided. After the debates, 66% of the students said it was a setback for the country, 26% called it progressive and 8% were undecided.