Amnesty says Nicaraguan abortion ban is a disgrace

Amnesty International issued a report on July 27 in Mexico City that condemned restrictions on abortion in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere and which is currently ruled by left-wing Sandinista President Daniel Ortega. Amnesty's Executive Deputy Secretary General Kate Gilmore referred to the Central American nation's ban on abortion saying "Nicaragua’s ban on therapeutic abortion is a disgrace." The report is entitled The total abortion ban in Nicaragua: Women's lives and health endangered, medical professionals criminalized.

Gilmore, an Australian sociologist added "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." The AI report describes the ban on abortion in Nicaragua, even in cases of rape or incest, a deformed fetus, or when the mother's life is in danger, as "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."  Said Gilmore, "There’s only one way to describe what we have seen in Nicaragua: sheer horror. Children are being compelled to bear children. Pregnant women are being denied essential - including life-saving - medical care."  The outspoken Gilmore added "What alternatives is this government offering a 10-year-old pregnant as a result of rape? And to a cancer sufferer who is denied life-saving treatment just because she is pregnant, while she has other children waiting at home?"

Responding to appeals from the Catholic Church and allied Evangelical Christian churches, President Ortega backed the law banning abortion in his appeal to non-Sandinista voters that brought him to power in January 2007. Despite his backing of the measure, Ortega has come under fire from conservatives in the U.S., for example, who condemn his ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Until the measure was passed, abortion had been permitted in Nicaragua under limited circumstances. On October 26, 2006, the Nicaraguan national legislature approved a draft law that revoked Article 165 of the criminal code that permitted some abortions. Nicaragua has since joined other Latin republics in banning abortion, e.g. Chile, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic.