Two publications this summer have added to the mounting evidence that the absolute ban on abortion in Nicaragua is endangering women’s lives and violating their human rights.

The first, released in May, is an analysis from Ipas Central America examining the meaning of international human rights norms and how they apply to maternal mortality, specifically to women in Nicaragua. The Ipas report notes that Nicaragua has signed on to a number of international treaties that recognize the right to health, and commit countries to respect, protect and guarantee this right to all of its citizens, without discrimination. By denying access to essential health services for particular segments of the population (particularly young and poor women), the government is violating their human rights.

The Ipas publication followed a report by Amnesty International released in July that found that the abortion ban endangered women’s lives, denied lifesaving treatment, prevented doctors from practicing appropriate medicine and contributed to an increase in maternal mortality. The report, "The total abortion ban in Nicaragua: Women's lives and health endangered, medical professionals criminalized,” was the result of an investigation earlier this year, Amnesty’s first study of the human rights impact of severe abortion laws.

“Nicaragua’s ban of therapeutic abortion is a disgrace. It is a human rights scandal that ridicules medical science and distorts the law into a weapon against the provision of essential medical care to pregnant girls and women,” said Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International’s executive deputy secretary general at a press conference in Mexico City as she returned from a visit to Nicaragua.  
Human Rights Watch came to similar conclusions in its report, “Over Their Dead Bodies,” released in 2007. It noted that both women were afraid to seek and doctors were afraid to provide lifesaving treatment, for fear of prosecution. This fear even extended to treating obstetric emergencies such as ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.

“Doctors in Nicaragua are now afraid to provide even legal health services to pregnant women,” said Angela Heimburger, Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division. “Some testified that personnel at public hospitals refused women and girls adequate care after devastating miscarriages, with direct reference to the ban.”

All three reports call on the Nicaraguan government to decriminalize therapeutic abortion (abortions needed to protect a woman’s life or health). In addition, Ipas and Human Rights Watch call for improving women’s access to emergency health services, while Amnesty urges the government to protect freedom of speech for those who protest the law.

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