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June 26, 2008
cemetary
A cemetery in rural Nicaragua. Since Nicaragua's complete ban on abortion, at least 12 women who would previously have been eligible to receive abortion services have died from serious conditions aggravated by pregnancy. Access to safe, effective services might have saved these women's lives.
(c) Sara Gomez, Ipas

The Nicaraguan constitution guarantees that human rights are “inalienable, universal, indivisible and interdependent.” It also states that the government must “promote, defend and guarantee” these rights to all of its citizens without discrimination. However, despite these promises, Nicaraguan women are dying because the laws ostensibly designed to protect them are actually denying their fundamental human rights.

Enacted November 17, 2006, Nicaragua’s total ban on abortion denies pregnant women the right to receive health care needed to prevent death and serious injuries. Previously, the country’s penal code allowed an exception for “therapeutic abortion,” abortions performed when the life or the health of the mother is endangered or in cases of rape or fetal malformation. These restrictions most dramatically affect women living in poor, rural areas — heightening economic discrimination in Latin America’s second-poorest country.

A new Spanish-language Ipas publication, La muerte maternal en Nicaragua: La vida de cada mujer cuenta (Maternal death in Nicaragua: The life of every woman counts), outlines the deadly consequences of the ban. The 17-page article, by Ipas Senior Program Associate Karen Padilla, analyzes trends in Nicaragua’s maternal mortality (pregnancy-related deaths). Using statistics from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health, the article examines the incidence, cause, time, location and other factors in the deaths of pregnant women.

“Reduction of maternal mortality is an indicator of a country’s development,” Padilla writes. “[It] shows progress toward a more just and equitable society aimed at meeting the needs of its citizens, which respects and guarantees women’s right to health.”

In 2007, there were 115 maternal deaths recorded in Nicaragua, almost the same number of deaths as were recorded over the previous two years. Padilla’s analysis found that at least 12 of these women died from serious medical conditions aggravated by pregnancy. Access to safe abortion services — which would have been legal before the 2006 ban — would likely have saved these women’s lives, according to Padilla.

From 2003 to 2007, Nicaragua’s recorded maternal mortality ratio (number of pregnancy-related deaths compared to the number of live births) wavered around 82 deaths per 100,000 live births — more than seven times the rate of deaths in the United States — despite national and international efforts aimed at its reduction. Additionally, Padilla notes, these statistics do not include deaths from suicide, murder or other causes that may be the direct or indirect result of the shame and stigma surrounding an unwanted pregnancy.

“The fact that maternal deaths, the great majority of which are preventable, continue to appear at such high rates shows the disadvantages women face, particularly those women who live in poverty,” Padilla writes.

Recent studies indicate that the abortion ban does not fully reflect Nicaraguan public opinion. An April 2008 poll found that five out of six Nicaraguans believe that abortion should be legal in situations that put women’s lives at risk. Another study also revealed that Nicaraguan women of all ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic levels seek abortions.

“Nicaragua’s maternal mortality clearly shows social injustice, and women are the victims of this injustice,” Padilla writes. “Once again women with the fewest resources are the most affected, and denying this situation is an insult to women’s dignity and an obvious demonstration of the discrimination that continues to exist. The reality is that a series of political, economic, cultural and geographic barriers continue to prevent women from receiving appropriate, timely access to high-quality health services that make the difference between life and death.”

Padilla ends the report calling for Nicaragua’s government to revise its laws:

“The responsibility to reduce maternal mortality levels is society’s as a whole, but the state will have a determining role to improve the quality of life for women and to give them the human rights they deserve.”

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258