- Conference
- 2009 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 23 October 2008
- Decision
- Carried
Since 2006 when the Sandinista Government returned to power in Nicaragua a law prohibiting abortion was introduced. This made abortion even on medical grounds or as a consequence of rape illegal.
For one hundred and thirty years Nicaraguan law allowed a woman to have an abortion when her life or health was in danger from the pregnancy, known as therapeutic abortion.
One month before the elections in October 2006, that brought the Frente Sandinista (FSLN) into power, the National Assembly banned ‘therapeutic abortions’ under pressure from Catholic and Evangelical churches. Daniel Ortega, leader of the government whom some will remember as a former revolutionary, has become a Catholic convert. The ban was retained in a September 2007 vote on the penal code. According to the legislation anyone who performs an abortion, where the life or health of the woman is threatened, would face one to three years in prison and any woman who requests an abortion up to two years.
In March 2008, as a result of intense national and international pressure, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health issued guidelines covering obstetric emergencies where abortion might be permitted where a woman’s life might be deemed as at risk. It has since failed to follow up by clarifying what procedures could be considered ‘therapeutic abortion’. Moreover, the guidelines directly contradict the legislation. As a result of not only the confusion caused by this but also the climate of fear, the widespread belief is that abortion is not allowed even when a woman’s life is at risk.
As documented by an organisation called ‘Human Rights Watch’ and the ‘Nicaraguan Solidarity Campaign’, there are cases where women have died because doctors were afraid to terminate their pregnancies. The legislation has also created fear and misunderstanding; some women are frightened to get treatment for any complication (such as severe bleeding) during pregnancy and postnatally, in case they are accused of having induced an abortion or having tried to.
Since March 2008, the small number of legal abortions contrasts with the number of unsafe procedures. NGO Ipas estimates that some thirty two thousand unsafe abortions have occurred in Nicaragua last year.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes that up to twenty one per cent of all maternal deaths can be attributed to unsafe abortion in Latin America.
Traffic intersections feature giant posters of Ortega with the slogan “Arise ye poor of the world”! Under Ortega’s government however, the sad irony is that the richer, better informed woman can fly to America or seek a costly and illegal abortion in Managua, while poor women often die preventable deaths.
Conference calls on the National Women’s Committee to:
1)Sign up to the Nicaraguan Network Letter to the President of the National Assembly, the Minister of Health and President of the Supreme Court calling on them to repeal the Law.
2)To work with the Nicaraguan Solidarity Campaign who are lobbying and campaigning to ensure that this profoundly unjust legislation is repealed as soon as possible.