Nicaraguan Legislature Expected To Approve Bill That Would Ban Abortion In All Cases

The Nicaraguan Legislature on Thursday is expected to approve a bill that would ban abortion in all cases and mandate sentences of six to 30 years in prison for women who undergo an abortion and for those who assist them, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Times, most of the chief political parties in Nicaragua support the legislation (Tobar, Los Angeles Times, 10/26). The country's current abortion ban allows legal medical abortions in cases of rape or when a woman's life or health is at risk, but such exceptions would be banned under the measure. Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos last week sent the measure to the Legislature, and the Women's Autonomous Movement of Nicaragua, a women's rights group, said it will file an injunction if the bill is approved (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/18). Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, said the legislation's passage could lead to lawsuits filed in international court, as Nicaragua has accepted the authority of the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights. According to the newspaper El Nuevo Diario, Nicaraguan Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics President Efrain Toruno on Tuesday said, "When a woman arrives at a hospital with vaginal bleeding ... we're going to be afraid to do anything," adding, "If we treat her we could be prosecuted, and if we don't we could also be prosecuted." Rafael Cabrera, an obstetrician and leader of the Yes to Life Movement, said, "The current law allows a small door in which abortions can be preformed, and we are trying to close that door," adding, "We don't believe a child should be destroyed under the pretext that a woman might die." According to the reproductive rights group Ipas, 24 legal abortions have been preformed in the country in the last three years and about 32,000 illegal abortions are preformed annually (Los Angeles Times, 10/26).


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