Op-Ed: How Latin America’s outdated abortion laws impact young women

Editor’s Note: The views reflected in this Op-Ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of Inside Costa Rica.

By Paloma Corredor / VOXXI

Latin America’s “old-fashioned” views on abortion and outdated abortion laws impact this generation of women, particularly Latinas.

A few months ago, the story of Beatriz (22) shocked the world. This young woman in El Salvador with serious health problems fought the legal system of her country in order to end a pregnancy that put her life at risk.

Despite the support of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, she wasn’t permitted the abortion she so desperately needed, and eventually, doctors were forced to perform an emergency c-section. Beatriz gave birth to a girl with no brain, as expected, and the baby only survived for a few painful hours.

Yesterday, I read a similar story in the newspaper that brought tears to my eyes. In Chile, an 11-year-old girl named Belen is pregnant after being raped by her stepfather. The incident was reported by her grandmother, but Belen’s mother says there was no violation. She actually consented, “What they are doing against my partner is so unfair.”

In the Dominican Republic, Esperanza (16) died in 2012 because she didn’t have access to an abortion that would have spared her life. She was pregnant by rape and sick with leukemia.

In 2001, a 12-year-old Nicaraguan girl became pregnant as a result of being rape, and her life was at risk due to a complication at 36 weeks gestation. Despite the popular pressure, Rosario Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega, opposed any intervention, and the girl gave birth to her baby unwillingly and unwell.

The abortion laws in Latin America

All of those cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout Latin America, countless cases of pregnancies caused by rape happen every year. But if the victims live in El Salvador, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, Nicaragua and Chile, they cannot abort, no matter the threat to their physical or emotional health. In these countries, abortion is absolutely prohibited.

Argentina and Colombia allow abortion in cases of rape and danger to the health of the mother or baby. The same is true in Bolivia, although the permission of a judge is required in case of rape. In Paraguay, abortion is allowed only if it endangers the woman’s life.

Only in Uruguay, Cuba and Mexico City (not in the rest of the country) women may abort freely during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It is the same in my country, Spain, although the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy is pushing to go back to a law similar to that of Argentina.

Something similar is happening in Brazil, where a bill intends to ban abortion in all cases as well as outlaw stem cell research, embryo freezing and assisted reproductive techniques. For women with difficulties getting pregnant, they suggest adoption.

The most controversial aspect of this law is dubbed a “rape scholarship” which consists of financial assistance for rape victims who become pregnant and from now on, will be forced to have the baby.

In addition, the state will pay psychologists (committed to Christian doctrine) to persuade women not to abort. As the proposed law’s text says, “If in the future, even if she gets married and has other children, a child born of rape is usually preferred. This has a simple explanation in the psychology of women: mothers cling on to the children who made them suffer more.”

The Catholic Church and women’s rights

That last sentence reminded me of Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, who said that a woman is not a real woman until she becomes a mother.And although it sounds like a cliché, I can’t help wondering how a man — let alone a celibate man (as the leaders of the Catholic Church are supposed to be) — can talk about what it means to be and feel like a woman.

The Catholic Church and pro-life groups — with their arguments that life is sacred from the first moment of conception, arguing that abortion is murder — grant more rights to an embryo than to an adult, and accuse these women (directly or subtly), of being promiscuous, insensible killers. Malas mujeres.

With its policy of silence and ban on sex education and contraception, the Catholic Church still seems to cover up the many cases of rape and incest that occur daily in all Latin American countries and of which only a fraction are reported. Consequently, women who can afford it go abroad to have a safe procedure performed. Those who cannot often carry out clandestine and unsafe abortions (estimated at 180,000 a year in Chile alone).

Time to change message to young Latin-American women

These laws and the interference of the Catholic Church perpetuate the mentality that blames women for the act of rape and condemns them to endure their suffering resignedly.

A cruel, outdated mentality also harms men, who are portrayed as beasts unable to control their instincts and unable to take responsibility for their actions. In the 21 century, teenager girls are receiving the same message as their grandmothers: be careful, do not provoke men, do not be free, and if something terrible happens to you, it was your fault. In this day and age, this is simply not okay.

Fortunately, the voices of Maria, Beatriz and Belen are starting to make a difference in the collective consciousness. I see them, not just as victims of a violation of their body, but also of their human rights, and the rest of the world is seeing it too. I hope the pain of these women helps the world to give birth to a more loving way of treating human life.

Paloma Corredor is a Spanish writer and journalist in print & online media. She’s the author of the novel ‘Yo y tú y todas las demás’ and writes about feelings, personal growth & dating in many magazines. She has a passion for human emotions, behavior & relationships.