Beatriz, a 22-year-old Salvadoran mother with lupus and kidney failure, is pregnant with an anencephalic fetus but continues to be denied a therapeutic abortion by the restrictive law in her country.
Health care providers play a central role in the promotion and protection of human rights in patient care. Consequently, the World Medical Association, among others, has called on medical and nursing schools to incorporate human rights education into their training programs. This report describes the efforts of one Central American nongovernmental organization to include human rights–related content in reproductive health care provider training programs in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Evaluation findings suggest that exposure to educational materials and methodologies that emphasize the relationship between human rights and reproductive health may lead to changes in health care provider attitudes and behaviors that help promote and safeguard human rights in patient care.
