Of all the regions in the world, Latin America consistently has some of the most restrictive laws when it comes to abortion. There are six countries in the world in which abortion is illegal in all circumstances, three of which are in Latin America: Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Malta, East Timor, and the Vatican City.
Amnesty International has just released a report, The Total Abortion Ban in Nicaragua (link leads to a PDF of the report), which details the situation in Nicaragua. In 2008, the country ramped up its penal codes for the “offense” of abortion, which means that not only are both abortion providers and the women who seek their services being arrested, but also that desperate women are obtaining unsafe abortions and they are dying from the procedure.
The report is very thorough and interesting, and well worth a read. If reading it makes you angry (and it should), send a letter to the President of the National Assembly in Nicaragua calling for the total ban on abortion in the country to be lifted.
Read more posts on the study at Gender Across Borders and Feministing.
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