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UN says Nicaragua's ban on abortion violates human rights
May 30, 2009
Jose Adan Silva, IPS News
The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) described the criminalization of abortion under any circumstances in Nicaragua as a violation of human rights.
At its 42nd session in Geneva, the CAT expressed its profound concern about Nicaragua’s strict ban on abortion, urging the government to repeal the 2006 law that banned therapeutic abortion and to make its legislation on abortion more flexible, especially in cases of rape or incest.
In October 2006, the Nicaraguan parliament approved a draft law to revoke article 165 of the criminal code, which had permitted abortion for medical reasons since 1893.
Under that law, therapeutic abortion had been legal in cases where the mother’s life was in danger, the fetus was deformed, or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. It required certification by at least three doctors, and authorization by the pregnant woman or her family.
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