Gender, sexuality, health and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean

摘要

In October 2006, after more than a century of guaranteeing the right to therapeutic abortion in the case of obstetric emergencies, the Nicaraguan National Assembly outlawed all forms of abortion. This meant that women in need of potentially life-saving therapeutic abortion, such as those experiencing haemorrhage during pregnancy, could be legally turned away from clinical care. Indeed, the new law put medical professionals in danger of criminal prosecution for providing therapeutic abortions or post-abortion care during obstetric emergencies, since it mandated prison sentences for doctors who performed abortions under any circumstances, as well as for women who sought abortions for any reason.