New York Times uncovers personal costs, tragedies of abortion bans

Salvadoran women who want to end a pregnancy have few places to turn to for help.

Photo by Richard Lord.

On Sunday, April 9, The New York Times Magazine cover story, “Pro-Life Nation,” investigated the impact of El Salvador’s abortion ban, passed in 1997. Reporter Jack Hitt illustrates how women’s lives and human rights are put on the line through the story of one young woman severely injured by an unsafe abortion and who was reported to the police by the hospital where she sought treatment. The article exposes the twisted nature of a world that criminalizes abortion, pitting doctors against their patients and leaving women out in the cold.

Ipas has worked with colleagues in El Salvador for nearly a decade to improve reproductive-health services for women: researching the restrictive environment’s effects on women; training health-care professionals to provide high-quality care for women after an unsafe abortion; creating access to improved health technologies; and promoting protection of women’s human and reproductive rights. During this time, the total criminalization of abortion has had tragic consequences for Salvadoran women and their families: women who see no other option than back-alley, unsafe abortions; children left motherless by deaths or incarcerations; and the creation of a climate of fear that compels health workers to betray the privacy and rights of their patients.

Around the world, Ipas works not only to improve women’s health care, but to document their experiences and advance their reproductive rights. To this end, Ipas facilitated interviews for “Pro-Life Nation” in order to give voice to the victims of El Salvador’s restrictive law.  It demonstrates clearly the need to stand firm against severe legal restrictions on women’s access to abortion.

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