Some Doctors, Women's Rights Advocates Say Nicaraguan Abortion Ban Will Endanger Women's Lives

Some women's rights advocates and doctors' groups in Nicaragua have said that changes to the country's abortion ban approved earlier this month will imperil the lives of thousands of women annually, the Boston Globe reports (Lakshmanan, Boston Globe, 11/26). Nicaragua's Asamblea Nacional, the national Legislature, in October voted 52-0 with nine abstentions and 29 not present to pass a bill that bans abortion in all cases, and President Enrique Bolanos earlier this month signed the measure into law. Under the law, women convicted of having an illegal abortion and those convicted of assisting them receive mandatory six-year prison sentences. The law eliminates exceptions to the country's abortion ban allowing procedures in cases of rape or when three physicians certify a woman's health 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. The Women's Autonomous Movement of Nicaragua, a women's rights group, in October said it would file an injunction if the bill was 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, 11/21). The Center for Constitutional Rights in Nicaragua also plans to file appeals to the Nicaraguan human rights council and the country's Supreme Court saying that the ban violates a woman's right to life. According to both supporters and opponents of the ban, doctors can save a woman's life as long as the doctor is not performing an abortion at the time; however, some doctors are "erring on the side of caution to avoid being made an example by an overzealous prosecutor," according to the Globe. The ban "has sent fear and confusion through the medical community" in Nicaragua, Oscar Flores Mejia of Nicaragua's National Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said, adding that many doctors who are fearful of prosecution under the ban will not save the lives of women who have ectopic pregnancies, preeclampsia, cardiac problems or other complications unless they can guarantee the fetus would survive. Wilfredo Navarro, a national assembly member who supported the ban, said physicians and abortion rights advocates are causing unnecessary alarm in their attempt to overturn the law, adding, "There's no going back. If doctors are going to kill babies, they can only do it outside of Nicaragua" (Boston Globe, 11/26).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.