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October 5, 2007
Nicaragua abortion ban is killing women
Human Rights Watch has just released a report, Over Their Dead Bodies, documenting how the stringent abortion ban in Nicaragua is killing women. In fact, the ban has caused the deaths of at least 80 women since it was put into action 11 months ago.
The U.S.-based rights group said women with risky pregnancies whose lives might be saved by aborting the fetus were dying because of the ban on terminations in any circumstance."They died because of the intimidation effect of penalizing abortion," said Human Rights Watch investigator Angela Heimburger, presenting the data in Managua.
The ban includes rape victims and women who risk dying in childbirth. But women in Nicaragua are fighting back; hundreds marched in Managua last week calling for an end to the ban.
Posted by Jessica at October 5, 2007 3:12 PM