Greatest Harm for Indigenous, Afro-Descendent People Living in Poverty
July 14, 2021
Human Rights Watch
(Washington, D.C.) – Ecuador’s laws
criminalizing abortion violate the rights and risk the lives and health of
women and girls, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 128-page report, “‘Why Do They Want to Make Me Suffer Again?’ The Impact of
Abortion Prosecutions in Ecuador” documents how these laws are having
widespread harmful consequences in Ecuador, costing lives through increased
maternal mortality and morbidity, cutting women and girls off from essential
services, and undermining broader efforts to promote sexual and reproductive
health. Women and girls charged with abortion often experience violations of
their rights to medical confidentiality and due process, and face significant
obstacles to accessing quality legal representation. The prosecutions affect
not only women who wish to end an unwanted pregnancy but also those who
experience miscarriages or obstetric emergencies, or urgently require
post-abortion care.
Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/14/ecuador-criminalizing-abortion-affects-rights-health