Over Their Dead Bodies: HRW reports Nicaraguan Abortion Ban is killing women

Human Rights Watch just released a report documenting the number of deaths that have resulted from the Nicaraguan Abortion Ban, called Over Their Dead Bodies.

From the report:

Nicaragua is one of only three countries in the world to maintain a blanket ban on abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, or life- or health-threatening pregnancies.1Such blanket abortion bans are incompatible with international human rights obligations, including obligations on the rights to life, health, and non-discrimination. Their imposition can, and most often does, have serious effects on the lives and health of women and girls.

Nicaragua’s blanket ban on abortion was initially enacted in November 2006 and reaffirmed in September 2007, and includes a ban on previously-legal therapeutic abortions.2It allows for prison sentences for doctors who carry out abortions under any circumstances—even to save a pregnant woman’s life—and on women who seek abortions, again, regardless of the reason. Although it appears that actual prosecutions are rare, the ban has very real consequences that fall into three main categories:

Denial of access to life- or health-saving abortion services;
Denial or delay in access to other obstetric emergency care; and
A pronounced fear of seeking treatment for obstetric emergencies.

The net result has been avoidable deaths.

This ban is an appalling human rights violation. Thank you to everyone who sent an email as part of our online effort to stop this ban last spring (by far our largest participation rate ever)–it was unfortunately unsuccessful. According to WW4, hundreds of women marched in Managua on September 28 to protest the unnecessary deaths of over 80 women since the ban.

Via Feministing.