In ‘Scarlet Girls,’ a Debut Feature Director Tackles the Fact That Abortion Is Still “Completely Criminalized” in the Dominican Republic

Paula Cury discusses taking “the hard route” for her first feature film, premiering at Copenhagen doc fest CPH:DOX, finding “very brave” women to speak up, and the global backlash against women’s rights.

By Georg Szalai
March 11, 2026

Five women reflect on their experiences with forced motherhood and clandestine abortions in the Dominican Republic in Paula Cury’s debut feature, Scarlet Girls. After all, the Dominican Republic (DR) is still one of the few countries where abortion is criminalized without exception.

The film, exploring what it means to be a woman in the DR and the quiet violence of stigma, among other things, world premieres at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX on Thursday, March 12. It is featured in the Human:Rights competition section of the Danish festival’s 23rd edition, which runs March 11-22, and will then screen at SXSW.

Continued: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/scarlet-girls-film-interview-abortion-dominican-republic-1236524313/

11.03.2026

Film, Art, Books

Adrift documentary

Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX

Total abortion ban in Dominican Republic has cost women’s lives, social media campaign warns

Artists and activists are telling the stories of women who've died from high-risk pregnancies in a push to add exceptions to the ban.

Aug. 30, 2025
By Carmen Sesin

With a birthday cake in hand, well-known Dominican Republic comedian Carlos Sánchez recounted in an Instagram post how 25-year-old Winifer Núñez Beato died in 2021 after doctors on the island refused to end her high-risk pregnancy because of the country’s total abortion ban.

Núñez Beato left behind a husband and a young daughter. In the video, Sánchez said the cake is not for his birthday, but rather to mark another year where he’s asking for women not to die because of a law that stops doctors from saving their lives.

Sánchez told NBC News he felt compelled to use his platform to raise awareness because “it’s a barbarity that in this day and age a mother has to put her life at risk over a risky pregnancy that could be ended but the law prohibits doctors to do so.”

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/total-abortion-ban-dominican-republic-cost-womens-lives-social-media-c-rcna228070

Dominican Republic: New penal code does not guarantee the rights of women and girls

12 August 2025
Amnesty International

On 3 August, President Abinader approved a new Penal Code for the Dominican Republic after years of attempts to reform existing criminal law, which dates back to the 19th century. However, the legislative and executive branches ignored many of the demands of civil society and public figures who were demanding a better Code. In response to this, Astrid Valencia, Americas research director at Amnesty International, said:

“President Abinader is consolidating a legacy of institutional violence and gender injustice. Dominican society deserves a Code that will guarantee human rights, not one that perpetuates a draconian total ban on abortion, putting the lives, health and dignity of women and girls at risk.”

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/republica-dominicana-nuevo-codigo-penal-no-garantiza-los-derechos-de-las-mujeres-y-ninas/

12.08.2025

Commentary

Amnesty International

Astrid Valencia

Johanna Cilano Pelaez

Dominican protesters rally against a proposed set of laws on abortion, corruption and rights

By DÁNICA COTO
July 10, 2025

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the Dominican Republic’s congressional building on Thursday to rally against proposed new laws that would uphold an abortion ban, allow discrimination based on sexual orientation and exempt churches, municipalities and others from criminal liability.

The conservative Caribbean country currently operates on a penal code dating from 1884, and efforts to reform it in the past 23 years have failed.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/dominican-republic-penal-code-abortion-ban-3cf907c3d3da30cf4781b3530d54bbf7

10.07.2025

News

abortion ban

Coalition for Women’s Lives and Rights

Activists Protest Bill to Keep Total Abortion Ban in the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Senate will approve a new bill that would to continue to criminalize abortion in any circumstance

Dominican Republic Abortion

By Sofía Aguilar
July 26, 2024

Over the past few years, we have seen different developments in the fight for abortion rights across Latin America. Last year, Mexico’s Supreme Court made headlines for decriminalizing abortion, allowing doctors and medical facilities who refused to complete the procedure to be taken to court. However, there are other countries who have continued to restrict or outright ban abortion and reproductive freedoms like the Dominican Republic.

This month, the Dominican Senate announced that they are days away from giving final approval to bill for a new criminal code that would keep the total abortion ban in place. It was introduced to the Senate in June, which was given initial approval, and it will soon become codified in national law. The code will criminalize abortion with no exceptions, even if the mother’s life is at risk, if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, or if the fetus will not carry to term. In response, local abortion rights activists have taken to the streets to protest, arguing that this code will drastically impact the lives of women and all people who can become pregnant and give birth, the Associated Press reported.

Continued: https://hiplatina.com/dominican-republic-anti-abortion-protests/

Dominican activists protest against a new criminal code that would maintain a total abortion ban

Activists in the Dominican Republic are protesting against a bill for a new criminal code that would retain a total abortion ban

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ Associated Press
July 17, 2024

Activists in the Dominican Republic protested on Wednesday against a bill for a new criminal code that would keep in place the country’s total abortion ban.

The Dominican Senate gave initial approval to the bill in late June and lawmakers are expected to give it final approval in the next few days.

“We continue to fight,” said feminist activist Sergia Galván, who along with fellow protesters have asked for legal abortion when the woman’s life is at risk, when a pregnancy is the product of rape or incest, and in cases of fetal malformation incompatible with life.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dominican-activists-protest-new-criminal-code-maintain-total-112054507

Dominican Republic’s Senate Doubles Down on Abortion Ban in Criminal Code

Bill Reduces Penalties for Sexual Violence, Excludes LGBT People from Protection

Stephanie Lustig, Research Assistant, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch
July 3, 2024

A deeply problematic bill for a new Criminal Code is now approaching final approval in the Dominican Republic's Senate. The bill, which the Senate approved on first review on June 26, maintains the country's complete ban on abortion. It also reduces penalties for sexual violence within marriage, classified as ‘non-consensual sexual activity,’ and continues to exclude sexual orientation from the list of characteristics protected from discrimination, thus failing to afford equal protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

The Dominican Republic is one of only five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that maintains a total prohibition on abortion and imposes incarceration for women and girls seeking abortions, as well as for those performing them. For decades, women's rights organizations have called for access to safe and legal abortion.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/03/dominican-republics-senate-doubles-down-abortion-ban-criminal-code

03.07.2024

News

abortion law reform

criminalization of abortion

decriminalization of abortion

U.S. abortion rights setbacks spark fears in Latin America

Concerns in Latin America that abortion rights could face setbacks similar to those in the U.S. are adding urgency to the protests planned for International Women's Day this Friday, Marina writes.

March 5, 2024
Marina E. Franco

Why it matters: Regions of Latin America already are some of the most dangerous in the world for people who wish or need to terminate a pregnancy.

Threat level: Abortion bans can jeopardize the lives of women in trauma situations where continuing the pregnancy puts a woman's life at risk. Last month, Adilka Féliz, a senator's legal aide in the Dominican Republic — where there is a full ban on abortion— died from complications after an emergency premature birth procedure. She had an unviable pregnancy but was denied an abortion, her mother says.

Continued: https://www.axios.com/2024/03/05/international-womens-day-abortion-terminate-pregnancy

‘I can’t bear the pain’: grieving the lives lost to the Dominican Republic’s abortion ban

A decade after Rossa Nelly Aquino died aged 20 in an illegal clinic, her family are still struggling to find answers. And campaigners are still fighting to update the 140-year-old law

Sarah Johnson in Santo Domingo
Mon 4 Mar 2024

One of the walls in Alba Nely Peña’s front room is adorned with graduation photos of her children. She gave birth to three boys and three girls, but only five smiling faces are on display in her house on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

“My youngest one died. I took her photo down because I can’t bear the pain,” she says, before going into a back room and digging out a framed collage of photos of her daughter. On it are written the words: “We will always remember you, Rossa.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/04/i-cant-bear-the-pain-grieving-the-lives-lost-to-the-dominican-republics-abortion-ban

In the Dominican Republic, I Saw Broken U.S. Abortion Policy Firsthand

U.S. lawmakers spoke out about abortion access in the Dominican Republic. The Biden administration didn't back them.

JAN 16, 2024
GARNET HENDERSON

In early December, a delegation of U.S. state lawmakers traveled to the Dominican Republic as part of a trip organized by State Innovation Exchange and the Women’s Equality Center. I was one of a group of journalists, and the only one based full time in the United States, who tagged along.

The lawmakers on the trip were New York assembly members Karines Reyes, Amanda Septimo, and Jessica González-Rojas—the former executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice—along with North Carolina state Sen. Natalie Murdock and Arizona state Sen. Anna Hernandez.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2024/01/16/in-the-dominican-republic-i-saw-broken-u-s-abortion-policy-firsthand/