Nicaragua's Back Street
Abortions
By Jane Dreaper, BBC
News, Nicaragua
An estimated 20 million
unsafe abortions are
carried out every year
around the world.
They are a major cause
of avoidable deaths
among pregnant women,
not least in Nicaragua
where abortion is
illegal.
It is still the rainy
season in the capital,
Managua. Downpours are
never far away, and the
heat and humidity wrap
around you like a
blanket.
Abortion became a crime
for women in Nicaragua
in November 2006
Managua is not your
typical city. Ravaged by
earthquakes, fire,
flooding and a
revolution, there are
hardly any high-rise
buildings, and no
obvious central
district.
Street names are
non-existent, and
addresses tend to be a
list of directions,
culminating in vital
information such as "the
house near the tree in
the middle of the
street".
But Managua redeems
itself with a beautiful
green carpet of
vegetation which
stretches from the banks
of its 40-mile-long lake
up to the hills beyond.
Blanket ban
Nicaragua is one of
Latin America's poorest
countries and there is
no doubt that life here
is tough.
There is a high rate of
pregnancy among teenage
girls and the health
workers I spoke to
mentioned significant
levels of sexual abuse.
I had travelled here to
find out about the
impact of the latest
restrictions on abortion
in this predominantly
Catholic country.
A law passed a year ago
makes Nicaragua one of
just a handful of
countries around the
world with a blanket ban
on abortion, even in
cases of rape or when
the pregnancy is
endangering a woman's
health.
Pro-life campaigners see
the law as a significant
victory that illustrates
what they can achieve
elsewhere.
Abortion rights
activists, meanwhile,
talk of the fear of
prosecution among those
doctors who are
approached by a pregnant
woman who may be
suffering complications.
I wanted to hear about
the experiences of these
women. The new
legislation, it appears,
is not necessarily
deterring those who feel
they need to end their
pregnancies.
I met some of the women
in a suburban garden,
filled with date palms,
hibiscus and orange
trees, the air
resonating with the
exotic cries and whoops
of birdsong.
The surroundings may
have been idyllic but I
was listening to a
series of increasingly
grim stories.
Secrets and lies
Twenty-year-old
Carla discovered in the
summer that she was
pregnant again by the
man who had already
fathered her
two-year-old.
"He drinks too much,"
she told me, adding that
he had no sense of
responsibility.
So she borrowed money
from a friend and went
to a private clinic.
An illegal abortion can
still be obtained in
Nicaragua, if you can
get your hands on $200
(£100).
"The abortion was
carried out without
anaesthetic and it hurt.
It was like giving
birth," she said.
Jessica, a computer
student, had a similarly
painful experience. She
said the doctor had
seemed as scared as her.
Jessica lives with her
father, and kept her
abortion a secret from
him.
She has talked it
through with a
counsellor, and tries to
campaign for other women
now, while pursuing her
own education and career
aspirations.
I am used to
interviewees sometimes
being reticent about
speaking into my
microphone. But these
women - with their neat
hair, sparkly tops and
fashionable jeans -
relived their
experiences calmly and
confidently.
Only afterwards I
learned that they were
worried that I would
judge them for what had
happened.
Then Gema, who works for
a women's group, stepped
forward to tell me about
a girl who had
approached her group for
help several weeks
earlier.
The woman was nervous,
her hands shaking. She
was pregnant after being
assaulted by her uncle,
a drug addict.
Ethical objections
She turned to the
group in desperation,
but they advised her
they could not help her
with an abortion because
of the law.
Her reaction was to
pummel her stomach with
clenched fists.
Several days later, she
was found dead from an
overdose.
Gema spoke of this
woman's case with barely
controlled anger, not
least because her
suicide would not be
recorded as having any
relation to the abortion
issue.
Earlier I had
interviewed Nicaragua's
leading pro-life
activist, Dr Rafael
Cabrera, who is also an
obstetrician and
gynaecologist.
I had put it to him that
women would continue
seeking abortions,
whatever the law said.
"But they know it is the
wrong thing to do," he
said.
His concern was for
protecting the unborn.
Was it his Catholic
faith that deterred him
from dispensing
contraception? I asked.
He said it was more an
ethical and scientific
viewpoint and quoted
studies about long-term
damage from taking the
pill, telling me that
contraception damages a
woman's maternal
instincts.
I tried to reflect on
the bitter arguments
surrounding abortion as
I had a look around
Managua's cathedral.
A strikingly modern
building, natural light
pours in through a
series of domes.
As a communion service
was taking place inside,
someone outside set off
a series of fireworks,
sending loud crackles
through the air and
breaking up the peaceful
atmosphere.
I could not help but
feel that the tensions
of these fierce
divisions being played
out between church,
state, and a
poverty-stricken people
were going to haunt
Nicaragua for a long
time to come. |
