Childhood cut short: Three stories of adolescent pregnancy from Paraguay

28 November 2023
UNFPA

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – No one seemed to mind when Noelia* got a boyfriend. Nobody in her family said a word, even though her boyfriend was 18 years old and she was just 13.

When Noelia went to see the cardiologist who had cared for her since birth through the public health service, the doctor explained the risk of pregnancy to her, but not how to prevent it. Although her mother accompanied her to medical appointments and knew about her daughter’s relationship, she did not express any concerns. Nor did anyone at school explain sexual abuse or birth control methods to her.

Soon, Noelia stopped going to school. Then she stopped going to the health service. She was pregnant.

Continued: https://www.unfpa.org/news/childhood-cut-short-three-stories-adolescent-pregnancy-paraguay

28.11.2023

Commentary

adolescent pregnancy

Dr. Natalia Kanem

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Paraguay’s Draconian Abortion Law Punishes Rape Survivors

Strict abortion prohibitions do not stop women and girls from having abortions; they just force them to have unsafe abortions, putting their lives and health at risk.

Tamara Taraciuk Broner, Santiago Menna – Human Rights Watch
January 5, 2022

In mid-November, a Paraguayan government hotline received a report of suspected sexual abuse against a 13-year-old Indigenous girl in a community near the border with Brazil. The case was assigned to Roselí Echeguren, a lawyer in a government office for the protection of children’s rights in Paraguay.

Echeguren told Human Rights Watch that community members had noticed that the girl had started to wear a girdle. Echeguren went to see the girl and took her to the hospital, where doctors confirmed that she was pregnant. The girl told her she had kept silent “out of fear.”

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/05/paraguays-draconian-abortion-law-punishes-rape-survivors

Sexual violence and abortion restrictions in Paraguay are fueling an epidemic of childhood pregnancy: Amnesty

By Kara Fox, CNN
Wed December 1, 2021

(CNN) An epidemic of childhood pregnancy in Paraguay is being fueled by widespread sexual abuse and restrictive abortion laws, according to a new Amnesty International report.

At least 1,000 girls aged 14 or younger gave birth in the country between 2019 and 2020, the report says. It adds that more than 12,000 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 gave birth in 2019.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/americas/paraguay-pregnancy-child-abuse-sexual-violence-intl/index.html

PARAGUAY – It’s three years and three months…

PARAGUAY – It’s three years and three months...

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

… since we published the photo above, taken during a protest against a case that has come back into the news this week. Along with human rights and women’s groups across Latin America in 2015, we joined the chorus of voices condemning the government and a hospital in Paraguay for refusing to allow a 10-year-old child who had been sexually abused by her stepfather to have an abortion. When the girl’s mother took her daughter to hospital suffering from stomach cramps and vomiting, she did not realise the girl was more than six months pregnant. et she was arrested and imprisoned for supposedly allowing the abuse to happen, and only after the girl had delivered was she released with all charges dropped.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/paraguay-its-three-years-and-three-months/

‘It destroyed the girl she was’: the toll of pregnancy on Paraguay’s children

'It destroyed the girl she was': the toll of pregnancy on Paraguay's children
Rampant child abuse, a culture that sexualizes young girls and draconian abortion laws have contributed to a child pregnancy rate that is among Latin America’s highest

Laurence Blair and Santi Carneri in Asunción
Thu 19 Jul 2018

When she took her 10-year-old daughter to hospital suffering stomach cramps and vomiting, Rosana had little idea of the ordeal ahead.

Several clinics had prescribed medicine for stomach parasites. One diagnosed a tumour. But a scan showed that the girl was several months pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jul/13/destroyed-girl-she-was-toll-pregnancy-paraguay-children?CMP=share_btn_link

Baranyai: Strict abortion bans harm girls forced to give birth

Baranyai: Strict abortion bans harm girls forced to give birth
The fate of one individual can galvanize public sentiment. So it is with the widespread tragedy of children forced into childbirth

Robin Baranyai
Published on: March 30, 2018

Statistics of tragedy can become meaningless; the scope of suffering, vague. Yet the fate of one individual can galvanize public sentiment – three-year-old Alan Kurdi, drowned escaping the conflict in Syria, or Kim Phuc, Vietnam’s “napalm girl.”

So it is with the widespread tragedy of children forced into childbirth. Every year, worldwide, two million girls aged 14 and under have babies themselves, because they don’t have access to safe, legal abortion.

Continued: http://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/baranyai-strict-abortion-bans-harm-girls-forced-to-give-birth

PARAGUAY – Child who was pregnant following sexual abuse dies from complications of delivery

PARAGUAY – Child who was pregnant following sexual abuse dies from complications of delivery
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Mar 27, 2018

The death of a 14-year-old rape victim who has died during childbirth in Paraguay has been in all the news media there. The girl had been hospitalised for 20 days, initially for a urinary tract infection, which was followed by other complications when she went into labour. Yet doctors were still attempting to deliver the baby vaginally until she suffered respiratory complications. They then attempted an emergency caesarean section, but the girl suffered an amniotic fluid embolism and three successive cardiac arrests and then she died.

The director of the National Hospital of Itauguá told local media: “It was very sudden. They attempted advanced resuscitation in intensive care, but could not save her. Her body was not ready for a pregnancy.” However, the girl’s family believe that her death was caused by medical negligence. They say the doctors insisted she give birth vaginally even though it was a high-risk pregnancy.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/paraguay-child-who-was-pregnant-following-sexual-abuse-dies-from-complications-of-delivery/

Abortion laws are not ‘pro life’ when they ignore women

Abortion laws are not ‘pro life’ when they ignore women
Inhuman cases, especially in Latin America, expose the vacuity of claims that they are there for protection

Kenan Malik
Sun 25 Mar 2018

We don’t know her name. She was aged 14 and her rape had led to a pregnancy. Under Paraguay’s savage abortion laws she was denied a termination and died in childbirth. “Her body was not ready for a pregnancy,” said Hernán Martínez, director of the National Hospital of Itauguá.

In Paraguay, as in many Latin American countries, abortion is permitted only when the life of the woman is threatened (and, as this case shows, the threat to the life of a 14-year-old in childbirth doesn’t count). Three years ago, a 10-year-old girl who became pregnant after her stepfather allegedly raped her was refused an abortion.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/25/abortion-womens-rights-latin-america

Paraguayan rape victim, 14, dies giving birth

Doctors say baby is stable but relying on breathing machine
Tragic case renews focus on Paraguay’s strict abortion laws

Santi Carneri in Asunción
Thu 22 Mar 2018

A 14-year-old rape victim has died during childbirth in Paraguay, where abortion is forbidden unless giving birth threatens the life of the mother.

Her baby is stable but relying on a breathing machine, the medical team told the Guardian. The girl, who has not been named, had been hospitalized for 20 days because of pregnancy complications when she went into labor.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/22/paraguayan-rape-victim-14-dies-giving-birth

Ireland is holding a referendum on abortion – now let’s talk about Australia

Ireland is holding a referendum on abortion - now let's talk about Australia
The Emerald Isle legalised same-sex marriage before us and looks like they could pip us to the post with reproductive rights too.

Jan 30, 2018
By Kate Wagner

We woke up to the progressive news Ireland will be holding a referendum on abortion. Their constitution as it stands now effectively bans terminations, deeming them illegal except in specific cases when there is a threat to the life of the mother.

Given the country's deeply religious roots, the fact criminalising abortion is enshrined in their constitution may not be shocking, but it is deeply troubling.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com.au/news/ireland-decriminalise-abortions-what-about-australia-25766