Nicaraguan Legislature Passes Bill That Would Ban Abortion In All Cases, President Expected To Sign It Into Law

Nicaragua's Asamblea Nacional, the national Legislature, on Thursday voted 52-0 with nine abstentions and 29 not present to pass a bill that would ban abortion in all cases, and Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos is expected to sign the measure into law, the New York Times reports (Lacey, New York Times, 10/27). Bolanos last week sent the measure to the Legislature and proposed increasing mandatory prison sentences for women who undergo an abortion and for those who assist them from six years to 10 to 30 years, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. However, lawmakers on Tuesday decided against increasing the penalties. According to the AP/Chronicle, if Bolanos signs the measure, it would eliminate a century-old exception to the country's abortion ban allowing procedures in which three physicians certify a woman's health is at risk (Aleman, AP/Houston Chronicle, 10/26). The country's current abortion ban also allows legal medical abortions in cases of rape or when a woman's life is at risk. 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.

Reaction
The Women's Autonomous Movement of Nicaragua, a women's rights group, said it will file an injunction if the bill is approved. In addition, Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, has 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 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/26). Hundreds of people on Wednesday protested the measure outside the Asamblea Nacional building in the capital, Managua, and some said the measure could cause the deaths of about 400 women who have ectopic pregnancies in the country annually. Conservative lawmaker Delia Arellano said, "Murder is murder, and even more so when it is against an innocent who can't say, 'Don't kill me,' who can't say anything from inside the mother's womb" (Bremer, Reuters, 10/27). According to the Times, if the bill is signed Nicaragua would join Chile and El Salvador as the only countries in the Western hemisphere to ban abortion without any exceptions (New York Times, 10/27).

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