[Peace-discuss] Nicaragua: At-Risk Pregnancy Means Death or Prison

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=39870

Nicaragua: At-Risk Pregnancy Means Death or Prison
José Adán Silva

MANAGUA, Oct 31 (IPS) - Nearly 90 women have died in Nicaragua as a
direct or indirect result of the repeal, one year ago, of the
legislation permitting abortion in cases of risk to the mother's
health, according to women's and human rights groups.
Ana María Pizarro, the head of the non-governmental organisation (NGO)
Sí Mujer, and Latin American coordinator of the 28th September
Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Therapeutic Abortion, told IPS
that the reform of the abortion law has driven up the number of
fatalities reported in this impoverished Central American country.

Studies by Sí Mujer indicate that 12 young pregnant women died from
lack of care in health centres where personnel were afraid of the
penalties of up to eight years in jail and loss of their medical
licence for doctors who carry out or assist in abortions, even when
the action is taken to save the expectant mother's life.

"In practice what is happening is a government death penalty imposed
on women," said Pizarro, a gynaecologist.

Lobbied by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and conservative
evangelical pastors, on Oct. 26, 2006 the Nicaraguan parliament
approved the draft law to revoke article 165 of the criminal code,
which had permitted abortion for medical reasons since 1893.

It applied in cases where the mother's life was in danger, the foetus
was deformed or irreversibly damaged, or the pregnancy was the result
of rape or incest. It required certification by at least three
doctors, and the authorisation of the pregnant woman or her family.

The law revoking article 165 was passed in the agitated political
climate leading up to the Nov. 5 general elections, won by leftwing
candidate Daniel Ortega, who formed a controversial alliance with the
retired archbishop of Managua, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, the
present coordinator of the government's National Council for
Reconciliation and Peace.

The parliamentary decision drew cries of outrage from some 30 local
medical bodies, Central American human rights organisations, foreign
diplomats, the World Health Organisation, the Pan-American Health
Organisation and other United Nations agencies.

According to women's movements, the repeal of the article was part of
the political strategy of the leftwing Sandinista National Liberation
Front (FSLN), now in power, and the rightwing Liberal
Constitutionalist Party (PLC), to win Catholic votes in the close-run
elections.

The amended law entered into force in November 2006, and was
incorporated in September 2007 into the new criminal code.

Performing an abortion with the consent of the woman carries a prison
sentence of one to three years. And if a doctor or health professional
performs it, they will be banned from practising medicine or their
health profession for two to five years, the new criminal code says.

Women who undergo abortions, whether self-induced or performed with
their consent, also face prison terms of one to two years, says the
controversial criminal code, which was approved by PLC and FSLN votes,
with a majority of 66 out of a total of 91.

Patricia Orozco, coordinator of the Feminist Movement fighting for the
reinstatement of therapeutic abortions, said that the group has
already presented 54 appeals to the Supreme Court to declare the law
unconstitutional.

"They have not replied, and we know that they won't, because the
Supreme Court serves the interests of the Liberal and Sandinista
parties, who make the laws in this country," Orozco complained.

The Supreme Court's press office said that the court would rule on the
appeals against the law in due time.

However, the women's groups believe that the answer to their appeal
will be delayed as long as possible, until it falls into oblivion.
"But while women keep dying, we will not forget," said Orozco, who
stated that women have been under dual attack all year.

"Apart from having our right to life undermined, we have been attacked
in the streets when we protest -- they have sent the police after us,
have beaten us and have harassed us with legal charges of disturbing
the peace," she complained.

Violent police crackdowns on women demonstrating in favour of the
right to therapeutic abortion were also reported to IPS by the
Nicaraguan Human Rights Centre (CENIDH).

"We have documented more than five mass aggressions against women
participating in peaceful protests in the streets of Managua," said an
activist.

In early October, Angela Heimburger, an Americas researcher with the
New York-based Human Rights Watch, presented a study in Managua on the
effects of implementing the ban on therapeutic abortions in Nicaragua
since it was approved in 2006.

"It has had a devastating impact on women's health and women's lives,"
Heimburger told IPS.

The report, "Over Their Dead Bodies: Denial of Access to Emergency
Obstetric Care and Therapeutic Abortion in Nicaragua", documents 11
cases, up until September, of women who died from causes related to
the ban on therapeutic abortion and the denial of medical services in
public hospitals.

The Health Ministry neither confirmed nor denied these figures, and in
fact has issued no statistics on maternal health since the therapeutic
abortion ban was approved.

"The government will always cover its tracks when it makes mistakes;
we have no faith in its statistics," said Juana Jimenez, a leader of
the Network of Women Against Violence, an NGO that has participated in
the struggle for women's rights.

According to the Autonomous Women's Movement (MAM), between 800 and
1,000 therapeutic abortions were performed every year in the public
health services before the ban was imposed. That means that "now there
are between 800 and 1,000 women at risk," a statement from the
organisation says.

Among other effects of the ban, MAM indicates that 2,500 young women
have crossed borders into other Central American countries where they
can undergo abortions without running such a high risk.

"Poorer women go to Costa Rica or Panama, and the wealthier fly to the
United States," said the group, which announced that it would increase
its protests and campaigns throughout the country.

The medical situation is being monitored closely by the U.N.
representative in Nicaragua, Alfredo Missair.

"We know that the causes of maternal mortality are increasing,
indirectly, from problems to do with providing or withholding
healthcare, and that is a fact that must be faced," he told IPS.

"Unfortunately, therapeutic abortion is misrepresented as an abortion
issue, when it is really about interrupting a pregnancy that could
cause the death of the mother and the baby. It's an issue that the
country must make its own decision about, but mothers deserve an
opportunity to exercise their right to life," Missair said.

Latin America is one of the regions that is closest to meeting the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but it has an outstanding debt
with the goal of reducing maternal mortality, said Missair. The U.N.
estimates the maternal mortality rate in Nicaragua at 90 per 100,000
live births.

"In developed countries, the maternal mortality rate is around 25
deaths per 100,000 live births," he noted.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org