PHA-Exchange> appalling news from Nicaragua/ALL abortions banned

[Marcy Bloom]

 <http://www.iht.com/> International Herald Tribune

 

Nicaraguan Congress votes to ban all abortions, even where mother endangered


The Associated Press 

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2006
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MANAGUA, Nicaragua Nicaragua's Congress voted Thursday to ban all abortions,
including those that could save the mother's life.

If signed into law by President Enrique Bolanos, the measure it would
eliminate a century-old exception to Nicaragua's abortion ban that permits
the procedure if three doctors certify that a woman's life or health is at
risk.

Fifty-nine lawmakers voted for the measure. Nine lawmakers abstained and 29
others did not attend the legislative session.

Bolanos has proposed increasing prison sentences for abortion - currently
around six years - to 10 to 30 years for women who have the procedure as
well as those who assist them. But it was unclear whether he would sign the
bill approved Thursday after lawmakers decided not to increase the
penalties.

The measure has drawn protests from women's rights groups. The Women's
Autonomous Movement has said it was prepared to seek an injunction to block
the measure if it passed.

Aside from Cuba, which offers abortions on demand for the first 12 weeks of
pregnancy, Latin America has some of the world's most restrictive
anti-abortion laws.

El Salvador and Chile also ban all types of abortions.

Most of the other countries in this heavily Roman Catholic region allow
abortion when a woman's life is in danger but deny it to pregnant victims of
rape or incest, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New
York-based advocacy group that supports abortion rights.

In May, Colombia's constitutional court legalized abortion in cases where
fetuses were severely malformed, the pregnancy was the result of a rape or
incest or the mother's life was in danger.

Some 85 percent of Nicaragua's 5 million people are Catholics.

Around the world, more than a dozen countries have made it easier to get
abortions in the past decade, and women from Mexico to Ireland have mounted
court challenges to get access to the procedure.

 

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