Nicaragua Abortion Ban Forces Rape, Incest Victims To Give Birth

In predominantly Catholic Nicaragua, an all-out ban on abortion, regardless of any potential risk childbirth poses to the mother, is drawing fire from Amnesty International (AI), the Guardian reports. AI, in its report, documents many cases of young girls victimized by rapists or family members who are nevertheless forced to give birth, and as a result, the rate of suicide among teenage girls has soared upward, according to the Guardian.

"There is only one way to describe what we have seen in Nicaragua ‑ sheer horror," Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International's executive deputy secretary general, told a press conference in Mexico City. "Children are being compelled to bear children. Pregnant women are being denied essential life saving medical care."

She added: "What alternatives is this government offering a 10-year-old pregnant as a result of rape? And a cancer sufferer who is denied life-saving treatment just because she is pregnant, while she has other children waiting at home?"

According to the Guardian report, Sandinista President Daniel Ortega won the 2006 election by supporting the ban, which went into effect in July of 2008 and punishes women who get abortions, and the medical workers who assist them, with prison.

In May, Amnesty International pushed the Nicaraguan government to adhere to a call from the United Nations Committee against Torture for the policy to be revised.

"The Committee is sending a clear message to the Nicaraguan state: So long as the complete ban with no exceptions is in place, you will be in breach of your international legal obligations to protect human rights," said Widney Brown, Senior Director, International Law and Policy at Amnesty International. "If this complete ban were to stay, women and girls would continue to be at risk of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Such inaction would show a cruel indifference to the physical pain, psychological anguish and lack of human dignity this law causes women and girls in Nicaragua to suffer by denying and thwarting their access to essential medical treatment during pregnancy."

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Comments

[HappyRabbit]

The "religious" right in this country are no less extreme. Religion in general is sexist and just another old, white man's club. The most spiritual people I know are not at all religious.

[negirl]

This is dangerous. There are probably many back alley dangerous abortions going on because of this. Coat hanger, anyone?

Imbeciles.

[HPdevotee]

Perhaps now people will begin to see just how truly misogynistic the RCC really is.

[tifaret]

And this is what the "right to lifers" want to turn america into...

[cobraxus]

Wow Ortega has come a long way baby.The Reaganites must love him now!

[traumabob]

Because if there's one thing the world needs more of, it's people fathered by men from the shallow end of the gene pool.

[lilmama51]

Absolutely, Newsmonger. Is it just me or does the world seem to be going backward and not forward? So much suffering and darkness and so many wishing us into more.

[TardisJockey]

So for all those "Pro-Lifers" would believe the world would be such a happy place if there were no abortions ever....here's your first view of hell on Earth, and it's what you'd wish on everyone here.

Yeah. This sounds real "Pro" life.

[Newsmonger]

If the GOP have their way; USA can easily be substituted for 'Nicaragua' in the above story and everything else will be perfectly true.

[gschear]

Theocracy. NEVER!

[Chubbster]

See, even serial leftist like Daniel Ortega have deluded confused minds. Either that or the Pope pulls the strings in Nicaragua.

[HAL2]

I wish them all luck. This is truly sad to read. I wonder if the same would happen here in the USA if there were a complete ban, perhaps that is what the religious right wants.

[real1234]

This is the case of extremism . The mother and child will be guarenteed emotional problems for life. It was not her fault she got raped.

[who38]

if you don't live in Nicaragua, don't go there. Try not to buy anything made in that country.

[drjasonmd]

I live in Nicaragua, and a boycott would be pointless because we don't make anything for export. This is the poorest country in Latin America right now. Haiti would be a step up.

Considering the very thin democratic margin by which this law was passed, and the current low popularity it has in this country, maybe you could think of a more constructive way to effect change.