‘I was given photos of the foetus’: abortion stigma lingers in pioneering Uruguay

'I was given photos of the foetus': abortion stigma lingers in pioneering Uruguay
The country has much to celebrate as Latin America’s most progressive on reproductive rights, but the process of getting a termination can still be long and stressful

Elizabeth Sulis Kim in Montevideo and Salto
Wed 10 Oct 2018

Juana Fernandez* was a university student and in the first few months of a new relationship when she discovered she was pregnant.

She was not ready to become a mother in her early 20s, so Fernandez, from Montevideo, decided to have an abortion. At that time, abortion was illegal in Uruguay so she was forced to undergo a clandestine termination. It was a stressful time.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/10/uruguay-pioneering-abortion-laws-changed-lives-yet-stigma-lingers


In Uruguay, Where Abortion Is Legal, a Judge’s Ruling Grants a Man the Right to Stop a Woman’s Decision

In Uruguay, Where Abortion Is Legal, a Judge's Ruling Grants a Man the Right to Stop a Woman’s Decision
Posted 4 March 2017
Written by Fernanda Canofre

A girl meets a guy. They have an on-and-off relationship for six months, until they mutually agree it’s not working anymore. It might sound like a common modern-day romance, except for the fact that not long after the girl finds out she is pregnant.

There's where things got complicated.

After considering her options and talking with her former partner, she decides not to continue with the pregnancy, but when she starts the process of interrupting it — something guaranteed by law in her country, Uruguay, until the 12th week of pregnancy — she finds out there's a legal complaint against her.

Her ex-partner wanted “to protect the life of his unborn child,” and with the help of a female judge, it was decided that “constitutionally” the fetus’ rights prevailed over the woman’s rights. The legal order came in a critical moment, when the 12-week period in which abortion is legal was about to close.

Continued at source: Global Voices: https://globalvoices.org/2017/03/04/in-uruguay-where-abortion-is-legal-a-judges-ruling-grants-a-man-the-right-to-stop-a-womans-decision/