The New York Times recently featured a disturbing article about the current state of women's reproductive rights in Guanajuato, Mexico. In Guanajuato, a state located in central Mexico, women who receive abortions are being prosecuted as murderers.
Guanajuato's government has traditionally been headed by Roman Catholic conservatives, which is one reason for their radical approach to abortion, but as women's rights advocates and some health officials have said, Guanajuato is no exceptional case. According to them, a "broad move to enforce antiabortion laws has gained momentum in other parts of Mexico," most likely as a backlash against Mexico City's 2007 decision to legalize abortion for women in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Under these strict antiabortion laws, women who do not give birth to a healthy baby are often suspected of "homicide." The result is that many women are too scared to seek medical care in cases of miscarriage or stillbirth, severely endangering their own health. Eight women in Guanajuato have been convicted of homicide and jailed in recent years, and according to women's health advocates, 166 investigations on abortion have been opened in Guanajuato in the past ten years.
MADRE stands firm against laws restricting access to abortion, especially in situations where women are criminalized for their choices. Such laws violate women's human rights. Mexico is unfortunately only one of many countries in which women are denied access to safe abortions.
In 2006, Nicaragua became the third country in the Western hemisphere to completely outlaw abortion. While most forms of abortion have been illegal in Nicaragua for over 100 years, the 2006 vote banned therapeutic abortion, thereby outlawing abortions in cases of incest, rape, or danger to the women's health or life. The result is the degradation of women's reproductive rights and an increase in cases of women seeking unsafe, illegal abortions. MADRE continues to work in Nicaragua to lift the ban. Together with other US-based and Nicaraguan organizations, MADRE took part in preparing an international legal challenge to Nicaragua's abortion ban. The complete ban on abortion has yet to be revoked, but MADRE has continued to advocate for the protection of Nicaraguan women's reproductive and human rights and for the end of the abortion ban.
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