As the US supreme court threatens to undo 49 years of access to safe and legal terminations, five women who died because of bans on abortion stand as warnings of what is at stake globally
Joe Parkin Daniels, Sarah Johnson, Weronika Strzyżyńska, Kaamil Ahmed and Mercy Kahenda
Sat 7 May 2022
[Stories about:]
Savita Halappanavar, Ireland
Olga Reyes, Nicaragua
‘Izabela’, Poland
‘Manuela’, El Salvador
‘Mildred’, Kenya
Denied abortions, Latin American child rape survivors petition UN
Groups on behalf of young rape survivors from Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua call on region to provide abortion access.
30 May 2019
Reproductive rights groups petitioned a United Nations agency on Wednesday on behalf of four young pregnant rape survivors in Latin America, calling on the region to ease up on its restrictive abortion laws.
Due to the laws, the girls were forced to carry their unwanted pregnancies to term and became "mothers against their will", said the petition by the US-based Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood Global and other rights groups in Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Latin America's fight to legalise abortion: the key battlegrounds
After Argentina rejected a bill to allow abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, hopes of reform now rest elsewhere
Annie Kelly
Thu 9 Aug 2018
An estimated 6.5 million abortions take place across Latin America each year. Three-quarters of these procedures are unlawful, often performed in unsafe illegal clinics or at home.
Of 33 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, only Cuba, Uruguay and Guyana permit elective abortions. Women also have the right to choose in Mexico City. Elsewhere, however, the right to an abortion is severely restricted, with terminations often permitted in cases of rape, or if the pregnancy will endanger the life of the mother. Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Suriname all have a complete ban on abortion.
What Ireland’s Abortion Referendum Means for Latin America
Countries in the Region Should Ease Abortion Restrictions
José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director, Americas Division @JMVivancoHRW
May 31, 2018
Last week, when 66.4 percent of Irish voters stunned the world by voting to end the country’s ban on abortion, it gave many hope that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean—which have some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws—would join the global trend towards easing abortion restrictions.
Just last year Chile ended its longstanding total abortion ban, allowing the procedure if the life of the pregnant woman is at risk, if the pregnancy is the result of rape, or if the fetus will not survive outside the womb.
Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/05/31/what-irelands-abortion-referendum-means-latin-america
Latin America lagging behind on women’s rights
By Hugo Sánchez and Julia R. Arévalo
euroefe.es | translated by Freya Kirk
Feb 19, 2018
Imprisoned for having an abortion, forced to keep a child born out of rape, pushed to commit suicide: women still pay a heavy price in Latin America, where several countries’ legislation greatly restricts abortion. EURACTIV’s partner Euroefe reports.
Women’s rights in South America were the main issue during a conference before the 10th Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EUROLAT), held last September in El Salvador. El Salvador is now ranked as the most violent country in the world, mainly due to gang activities.
Brazil: Reject Abortion Ban
Constitutional Amendment Would Endanger Women, Girls; Violate Rights
December 12, 2017
(São Paulo) – Brazilian lawmakers should reject a dangerous constitutional amendment that would prohibit abortion in all circumstances, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposed amendment would ban abortion even for pregnancies resulting from rape, or when the life of the woman is in danger.
The proposed abortion ban is part of a constitutional amendment being considered on December 12, 2017, by a special congressional committee of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies. The committee approved the amendment in November, in a controversial vote, with 18 men voting yes and 1 woman voting no.
Continued at source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/12/12/brazil-reject-abortion-ban
Nicaragua’s Abortion Ban Makes Victims the Criminals
September 28, 2017
Janet Walsh, Deputy Director, Women’s Rights Division
For more than six years, Ana’s partner raped her repeatedly in their home several hours from Nicaragua’s capital. He threatened, humiliated, and tormented Ana and their two young children. When she begged him to leave, he refused.
Twice, the rapes resulted in unwanted pregnancies. The first time, Ana told her partner she wanted to get a clandestine abortion. “He said he would kill me,” Ana told me. Afraid for her life, she continued the pregnancy and gave birth to her second child.
Continued at source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/28/nicaraguas-abortion-ban-makes-victims-criminals
Nicaragua: Abortion Ban Threatens Health and Lives
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Publication Date: 31 July 2017
Nicaragua's total ban on abortion is putting women and girls' health and lives at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The country's 2006 law punishing abortion - without any exceptions, even if pregnancies are life-threatening or resulted from rape - has driven abortions underground. The ban has not stopped abortion, but has made it more unsafe.
Women and girls with crisis pregnancies are getting unsafe clandestine abortions. Often too afraid to seek medical care when complications arise from such abortions, some women and girls delay seeking care and do not disclose to doctors the cause of complications. Medical providers, caught in a conflict between the law and medical ethics, have reported women and girls to police for suspected abortions. Under Nicaragua's criminal code, women and girls who terminate pregnancies face sentences of
Continued at source: Ref World: http://www.refworld.org/docid/597f3e094.html
“Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) regional campaign, Latin America
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
July 28, 2017
Planned Parenthood Global, Amnesty International, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida Mexico (GIRE) and Latin American Campaign against Unsafe Abortion (CLACAI) have joined efforts to raise awareness on forced motherhood and its impact on girls’ lives and futures across Latin America through the “Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) regional campaign. The campaign calls for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and safe, legal abortion services to end forced motherhood in girls in Latin America.
In the framework of the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, the campaign launched a call to women to share on social media what was their dream when they were girls, along with a childhood photo. The response was amazing: women from all over the region lit up social media with the hashtag #NiñasNoMadres. The timelines, full of cute pictures, brought attention to the toll that forced motherhood has taken on thousands of girls in the region. More than 40 national and international media outlets published pieces about the campaign, including Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and AJ+.
Latin America is the only region in the world where births among girls under 15 years old is on the rise. Forced motherhood in girls is an urgent public health and human rights problem.
In Guatemala, five girls under the age of 14 become pregnant every day. In Nicaragua, the number of pregnant girls aged 10-14 years old increased 47% from 2001 to 2009. In Ecuador, pregnancy among girls under the age of 15 has increased by 74% in the last decade. In Peru, every year, more than 1,100 births are to girls 12-13 years old.
Planned Parenthood Global has produced the report “Stolen Lives” in English and Spanish, which summarizes qualitative and quantitative research conducted in Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Peru to document the dire physical, mental, and social health consequences of forced pregnancy on girls living in these countries. This report was used as input for the Hemispheric Report on Sexual Violence and Child Pregnancy recently released by the Organization of American States’ Committee of Experts of the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI), which issues recommendations to States, including “ensuring that all pregnancies in girls are considered high risk and allowing legal termination of pregnancy.”
Join us in demanding a better future for girls in Latin America. Follow the campaign on Facebook @ninasnomadres and visit http://www.ninasnomadres.org for more information.
SOURCE: Planned Parenthood Global, email 17 July 2017
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Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/ninas-no-madres-girls-not-mothers-regional-campaign-latin-america/
The 9 countries with the most draconian abortion laws in the world
by Andree Gorman
Dec. 15, 2016, 11:05
LONDON — In November, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would explore offering Northern Irish women a free and legal means to terminate their pregnancy.
Abortion is only legal in Northern Ireland when a pregnant woman's life is at risk, but the NHS has so far refused to pay for the procedure for those who travel to Britain seeking help.
Sturgeon's plan may offer a way around this. In doing so, she also cast light on abortion laws.
Around the world, 58 of 196 countries provide abortions on request, and 134 of 196 countries only allow abortions to preserve a woman's physical health.
Six countries — El Salvador, Malta, the Vatican, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua — still refuse abortions to women under any circumstances, even if it's to save her life. It means that under many circumstances, such as rape, incest, or if the fetus has a severe abnormality, women still must bring a pregnancy to term.
Developing countries, which have the strictest laws around ending a pregnancy, have the highest unsafe abortion rates. It is estimated that around the world, 78,000 deaths result from unsafe abortions every year. These are the countries with the strictest abortion laws around the globe.
[continued at link]
Source: Business Insider, http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-strictest-abortion-laws-2016-12/#in-the-philippines-women-are-technically-allowed-to-have-abortions-to-save-their-own-lives-but-the-law-does-not-explicitly-state-this-8
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