Still from the documentary 'Rosita' in which a nine year old Nicaraguan becomes pregnant as a result of rape, triggering a battle over whose life is more important.
www.bullfrogfilms.com

NSC Statement on the total ban on abortion in Nicaragua

NSC is completely opposed to the total abortion ban and regards it as a violation of women’s rights, profoundly detrimental to achieving equality for women, which must form the basis of any just society.

The roots of the total ban on abortion lie in a fundamentalist interpretation of religious doctrine by the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. This was supported by all major parties including the FSLN (Sandinistas) in the lead up to the 2006 elections.

The Catholic Church in Nicaragua as well as the government should be held accountable for the total ban on abortion.  

NSC applauds the measures introduced by the Sandinista government that have improved the quality of life of the most impoverished sectors of society especially women in rural areas. This includes measures that have reduced maternal mortality.

NSC totally supports the demands of Nicaraguan organisations that are calling for the total ban on abortion to be repealed. These include medical associations, the Nicaragua Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH) and women’s organisations.  

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NSC Briefing on total ban on abortion in Nicaragua

For 130 years until 2006 Nicaraguan law outlawed abortion except in situations where the life or health of a woman was at risk from continuation of the pregnancy and in cases of pregnancy as a result of rape (therapeutic abortion).

In the lead up to the November 2006 elections leading members of the Catholic Church – 85% of Nicaraguans are Catholics - and some evangelical Christian groups carried out a pernicious campaign calling for outlawing of abortion in all circumstances. As Amnesty International highlighted in their July 2009 report, Catholic church propaganda included images of mutilated foetuses, digitally manipulated photos of women’s group with ‘blood’ spattered on them and defamation of a gynaecologist accusing her of manipulating information in an attempt ‘to legalise the  assassination of 36,000 babies every year in Nicaragua.’ This campaign depicted all abortion as unjustifiable and failed to acknowledge that safe access to abortion is sometimes necessary to safeguard the lives and health of women.

A total ban on abortion became a key campaign issue in a close run election campaign. The Frente Sandinsta (FSLN) had concluded that one of the main reasons for their electoral defeats between 1990 and 2006 was the strong and influential opposition they faced from the powerful hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Therefore their electoral platform of forming a government of National Unity included building positive relations with the Catholic Church.

In the highly charged atmosphere of the campaign both major parties – the FSLN and the PLC (Liberals) - backed the call for the total abortion ban and the National Assembly hurriedly approved legislation enshrining the ban into law. Because the roots of this ban lie with a very fundamentalist interpretation of religious doctrine by the Nicaragua Catholic Church this ban would have remained in place whichever party had won the elections In July 2008 the ban was integrated into the penal code providing for prison sentences for women and girls who seek any kind of abortion and health professionals who carry out abortions.  

Nicaragua joined Chile, El Salvador and the Vatican as the only states in the world in which therapeutic abortion is a crime punishable by imprisonment for both women and doctors, even in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the woman is at risk This violates international law relating to the protection of the right to life, health and non discrimination.

In Nicaragua all major medical associations, women’s and human rights organisations and a group within the Church called Catholics for Choice have opposed the ban and called for it to be repealed. It has also been condemned by four UN bodies: the UN Committee against Torture, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Therefore Nicaragua is in breach of international protocols relating to the rights of women and children.   

In December 2006 the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health issued guidelines covering obstetric emergencies where abortion is permitted when a women’s life is at risk, for example with an ectopic pregnancy (a pregnancy developing outside the womb). In law the penal code supersedes obstetric protocols thereby creating a climate of confusion and fear even though to date no-one has been prosecuted.  

As Amnesty International points out in their July 2009 report, the total abortion ban is at odds with the Sandinista government’s commitment to poverty alleviation and equality. Many of the measures they have introduced in the past three years have undoubtedly  improved the quality of life of the most impoverished sectors of society especially women in rural areas. This includes measures that have reduced maternal mortality.  

According to the Nicaraguan government free health care programmes reduced maternal mortality from over 300 deaths in 2007 to 98 in 2008. The Ministry of Health has set up a network of 72 prenatal health centres in very poor rural areas which have had a considerable impact. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the level of malnutrition has been reduced from 52% to 22% as a result of government food security programmes.

On 8 January 2009 the Nicaragua Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH) presented an appeal against the ban to the Nicaraguan Supreme Court arguing that it contradicts human rights and the rights of women enshrined under the Constitution. Under the rules and procedures of the Court a verdict should have been announced by May 2009 but for reasons related to the complex power relations between the government and the Catholic Church no verdict has yet been announced.

At the end of 2009 Supreme Court President Francisco Rosales announced that the decision on the constitutionality of the ban on therapeutic abortion had been written and the full Court had only to meet to approve it. Meanwhile, women’s and human rights groups along with medical associations continued to demand that the Court announce its ruling, holding marches and sit-ins and issuing statements.  Juana Jimenez of the Autonomous Women’s Movement said, “The period for issuing this ruling is up, nevertheless, there it sits because of a politically partisan system that overrules human rights.” She added, “With a ruling in our favor, Nicaragua will cease to be listed as a violator of human rights. But they have used this ruling as a negotiating card between the government and the church while stepping on our rights.”

Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign

25/1/10

Further information:

www.movimientoautonomodemujeres.org

www.amnesty.org