Dominican Republic: Abortion Ban Endangers Health

Dominican Republic: Abortion Ban Endangers Health
Criminal Penalties Violate Rights

November 19, 2018

(Santo Domingo) – The Dominican Republic’s total ban on abortion threatens women's health and lives and violates their rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Abortion is illegal in the Dominican Republic in all circumstances, even when a pregnancy is life-threatening, unviable, or the result of rape.

The 78-page report, “‘It’s Your Decision, It’s Your Life’: The Total Criminalization of Abortion in the Dominican Republic,” documents that women and girls facing unwanted pregnancies have clandestine abortions, often at great risk to their health and lives. Many experience health complications from unsafe abortions, and some die. Some women and girls face abuse, neglect, or mistreatment by healthcare providers. The ban does not stop abortion but drives it underground and makes it less safe. As a starting place toward meeting the country’s human rights obligations, Congress should decriminalize abortion in three circumstances.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/11/19/dominican-republic-abortion-ban-endangers-health


New report explores what total abortion ban means in the Dominican Republic

New report explores what total abortion ban means in the Dominican Republic

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
Mon November 19, 2018

(CNN) A woman spoke of her 16-year-old daughter who died after being denied chemotherapy for leukemia because she was in the early weeks of pregnancy. A nurse described how a woman who was experiencing heavy bleeding after self-inducing an abortion was forced by medical providers to wait for treatment as "punishment" -- only to lose too much blood to be saved. An outreach worker remembered the mentally disabled 14-year-old girl who became pregnant at 12, probably by her father, and received no care.

Stories like these are revealed in a new Human Rights Watch report, released Monday, that focuses on the effect of a total government ban on abortions in the Dominican Republic.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/19/health/dominican-republic-abortion-ban-report-intl/index.html


DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – March against the criminalisation of abortion

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – March against the criminalisation of abortion

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Aug 13, 2018

On 15 July, hundreds (one report said thousands) of people from more than 100 social and political organisations participated in the “March for Life, Health and Dignity of Dominican Women”, which called for the decriminalisation of abortion in the country on three grounds: when the life of the woman is at risk, in cases of rape or incest, and when the fetus is not viable.

The march went from the Dominican Medical College to the National Congress. Placards carried messages such as: “The rich abort, the poor die”, “The sins according to a religion do not have to be crimes for the nation” and “#Abortion3Grounds: the life, health and dignity of women”. There were also demands that legislators “fulfill their role as representatives of the will of the Dominican people, who have pronounced themselves in favour of the three grounds by a large majority.”

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/dominican-republic-march-against-the-criminalisation-of-abortion


Major Victory for Women in Dominican Republic as Law Criminalizing Abortion Gets Stalled

Major Victory for Women in Dominican Republic as Law Criminalizing Abortion Gets Stalled

Published 11 July 2017

Opening avenues for discussion over decriminalizing abortion, the Dominican Republic Chamber of Deputies ruled against a new Penal Code on Tuesday that would have prohibited abortion under any circumstances.

"This historic event marks a milestone for those who defend the right to autonomy," Colectiva Mujer y Salud, a non-profit organization, said in a statement at the end of the Lower House vote.

Hours before the meeting, members of the human rights organizations and women health collectives held a demonstration outside the Congress.

Continued at source: Telesurtv: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Major-Victory-for-Women-in-Dominican-Republic-as-Law-Criminalizing-Abortion-Gets-Stalled-20170711-0032.html


Dominican Women Take to the Streets to Demand Abortion Rights

Dominican Women Take to the Streets to Demand Abortion Rights

Published 25 June 2017

The Dominican Republic records one of the region's highest rates of maternal mortality with 106 victims for every 100,000 births.

Hundreds of women took to the streets of the capital of the Dominican Republic Sunday, demanding the country's lawmakers approve a bill that would decriminalize abortion when the pregnancy is threatening the mother's life, when it's the result of a rape, or when the fetus won't be able to survive outside the uterus.

Continued at source: TelesurTV: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Dominican-Women-Take-to-the-Streets-to-Demand-Abortion-Rights-20170625-0030.html