[DEBATE] : The Struggle for Safe Abortion in Latin America

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?sh_itm=a0e9cdb3ec5dfaee71d0d5fa0a71e668&rXn=1&>
The struggle for safe abortion in Latin America

On September 28th, feminist activists across the continent marked the
International Day for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin
America and the Caribbean.
  	
<http://www.rabble.ca/images/slices/e4fc876d032caf0c07ef174b7eebf733/pic2.JPG> 	
Photo > Jen Pierce  	  	
Protesters in Caracas at the International Day to Decriminalize Abortion.

by Jen Peirce
October 9, 2007

There is a slogan commonly heard among Latin American feminists: "The
rich women abort and the poor women die." Among those who fall through
the cracks of the extreme wealth inequalities of Latin America, the
women who die or suffer health problems due to unsafe abortions are
invisible victims. Those who can afford clandestine or overseas
abortions remain shrouded by social taboo, while those who cannot
afford such measures often die from hemorrhaging caused by
self-inflicted abortion attempts.

On September 28th, feminist activists across the continent marked the
International Day for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Their goals include calling for attention
to unsafe abortion as a public health problem and for changes in
access to abortion laws.

According to the World Health Organization, 68,000 women die each year
from unsafe abortions and 3,700,000 unsafe abortions occurred in Latin
America alone in the year 2000. Despite the recommendation from the UN
Committee on the Convention for the Elimination of All forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that the criminalization of
abortion constitutes a barrier to women's right to health, abortion
access in Latin America is among the most restrictive around the
world.

Apart from Cuba, Guyana and Mexico City (only this year), legal access
to abortion in Latin America is mostly restricted to cases of rape,
incest, or to save the mother's life. El Salvador and Nicaragua
eliminated even these exceptions in recent years, the result of
high-profile political alliances with the official Catholic Church. A
group of women protesting the ban at the central Cathedral in Managua,
Nicaragua, on September 30 faced insults and a line of police guards.
A recent Human Rights Watch report has called the impact of the ban
"devastating," causing further deaths and also instilling a climate of
fear and criminalization on healthcare for pregnant women in general.

In Venezuela, the country with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the
continent, a coalition of feminists and sexual diversity activists are
pushing for reforms to the constitution. Currently Venezuela's
constitution guarantees parents' right to choose how many children to
have, but defines the start of life at conception.

Dr. Asia Villegas, a member of the monitoring committee of Belem do
Pará Convention on violence against women, argues that the inclusion
of abortion as a felony under the Criminal Code penalizes vulnerable
women. Instead, she says, sanctions should target the causes of
clandestine abortions or the precarious conditions that can lead to
long-term health consequences and death, particularly among poor
women. Although a series of constitutional reforms will be voted on by
referendum in December, proposals to decriminalize abortion are so far
not on the agenda.

There are no definitive statistics on deaths due to unsafe abortions
in Venezuela, because these deaths are generally registered under
other causes. Hospital sources cited by the coalition estimate that
nearly a third of deaths among girls age 15-19 can be attributed to
botched abortions. "Unsafe abortions cause rapid hemorrhaging, and
many women have died bleeding in my hands," says Dr. Alberto Waithe, a
gynecologist and public health specialist in the city of Mérida.

Despite the major investment in basic health services by the Chávez
government and the improvement in many health indicators, the maternal
mortality ratio (96 per 100,000 live births in 2000, while the
mortality rate for women of reproductive age is 27 per 1,000) has not
shifted significantly. For Dr. Waithe, this suggests that "we are
doing something wrong and something must change — doctors must open
their minds."

For Ana Belén Jarra, a member the feminist collective Pachamama, it is
the role of social movements to push the government to protect
reproductive rights and public health. "It is a historical debt owed
to women, but we must raise consciousness among communities and
politicians," she says. Juramis Varela dressed up as a pregnant priest
for the day of action to spread the message that "a woman's body does
not belong to the state, her partner, and much less to the church, so
the decision is hers."

Yet abortion remains a taboo issue in much of Latin America. "We must
start speaking of abortion in the first person," declared Diluvina
Cabellos, the representative of the Venezuelan National Assembly who
received the proposals for constitutional reform. Telling the story of
her own clandestine abortion at the age of 17, she says that only by
making safe abortion a priority of public health will there be any
chance of stemming the tide of "too many deaths of our daughters."

Jen Peirce is a graduate student in international development,
currently researching gender equality and social movements in
Venezuela. She has worked with community organizations promoting
women's rights in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Gambia, and Halifax.

-- 
Yoshie