NICARAGUA:
Priests' Law Of Death
By Martin Markovits and
Vincent Bevins
Nicaragua's decision to
ban all types of
abortion, including
those ruled necessary to
save the life of the
mother, is drawing
criticism from human
rights and women's
groups for causing
unnecessary deaths and
denying unrelated health
services to women. The
law, promoted by the
Catholic Church and
passed by the national
assembly in October
2006, has the support of
the left-wing
government. It makes the
country one of only four
in the world where
abortion is illegal in
all cases.
According to Nicaragua's
health ministry, there
have been 82 maternal
deaths since the law
came into effect in
November 2006.
Enforcement is strong
and a great deal of
publicity has been given
to the sentence - up to
six years' imprisonment
- that doctors can
receive for performing
abortions.
Of course, those who can
afford private (and
secret) procedures can
easily obtain them, as
is the case throughout
Latin America. This
means that the law
mainly affects the
poorest. "Women with
money suffer the same
circumstances. The
difference is that they
can pay a doctor, and,
like they say, money
talks. But poor women
need the services of the
state, and that's where
the doors are closed,"
said Martha Flores, a
social worker from the
barrios of the capital,
Managua.
It is little surprise,
then, that more than 80
per cent of the reported
maternal deaths have
occurred in poor rural
areas. One doctor who
admitted to performing
abortions, and who spoke
only on condition of
anonymity, said: "The
price has risen, so what
happened? It's turned
into a business, that's
all that happened when
they passed the law. On
the other hand, the poor
class, we are killing
the women. Simple."
The US-based NGO, Human
Rights Watch, argues
that the effect of the
law goes beyond the
issue of abortion. HRW
researcher, Angela
Heimburger, claims that
some doctors in
Nicaragua are now afraid
to provide even legal
health services to
pregnant women for fear
of being prosecuted.
"We've talked to a lot
of doctors who have
witnessed cases of
unnecessary deaths,
especially involving
miscarriage, because
women were not treated
immediately."
The government does not
keep official statistics
on the effects of the
law, so the actual
number of deaths
directly resulting from
its introduction is hard
to ascertain.
Women's rights groups
are currently suing the
government over the
legislation, saying it
violates a fundamental
right to life. If the
case is turned down in
Nicaragua's Supreme
Court, it could move to
the International Court
of Justice in The Hague.
But neither court is as
influential in Nicaragua
as the Catholic Church.
Roughly 85 per cent of
Nicaraguans are
Catholic, and, as a
result, the religious
values of the people are
important to the
government. Even
President Daniel Ortega,
a man with an
unimpeachable leftist
background, supports the
abortion law.
A close friend of
Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez, Ortega
spent years in prison
under the dictator
Somoza, whom he
eventually overthrew in
1979 with his Sandinista
guerrilla revolution.
Ortega and his
government spent the
1980s under attack from
the US-sponsored Contra
forces and eventually
lost power. A Marxist
atheist for most of his
life, he returned to the
Church and changed his
mind on the abortion
issue shortly before
being re-elected in
2006.
According to official
Catholic doctrine,
abortion is always the
intentional taking of a
life and is therefore
never permitted. The
duty of any doctor is to
save the mother and the
baby, no matter how
unlikely the survival of
both may be; the life of
the mother is considered
no more valuable than
that of the unborn
child.
Father Henry Moreno, a
leader in the pro-life
movement in Managua,
believes "the protocol
of the ministry of
health is to save both
lives . . . if during
the process one dies,
there is no crime, no
sin, no
excommunication". But,
"if you intentionally
interrupt the process
that's when it's a sin
and that should never be
condoned".
There are a few
dissenting voices within
the Church, with some,
such as the theologian
Christopher Kaczor,
arguing that in certain
cases the foetus could
be considered an
unintentional material
aggressor whose life may
be taken,
unintentionally, in an
attempt to save the
mother.
HRW's report, Over Their
Dead Bodies, argues that
the problem is not so
much one of the legal
application of a strict
interpretation of Church
doctrine, but the
climate of fear created
among doctors.
The challenge is to find
room for compromise
without directly
stepping on the toes of
the Church. Even with
the Sandinistas back in
power, a Nicaraguan
government cannot afford
to lose the support of
the Catholic Church and
those who follow its
teachings. |
