No-Exceptions Abortion Ban killing women in Nicaragua

[ck4829]

Two weeks after Olga Reyes danced at her wedding, her bloated and disfigured body was laid to rest in an open coffin — the victim, her husband and some experts say, of Nicaragua’s new no-exceptions ban on abortion.

Reyes, a 22-year-old law student, suffered an ectopic pregnancy. The fetus develops outside the uterus, cannot survive and causes bleeding that endangers the mother. But doctors seemed afraid to treat her because of the anti-abortion law, said husband Agustin Perez. By the time they took action, it was too late.

Nicaragua last year became one of 35 countries that ban all abortions, even to save the life of the mother, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. The ban has been strictly followed, leaving the country torn between a strong tradition of women’s rights and a growing religious conservatism. Abortion rights groups have stormed Congress in recent weeks demanding change, but President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist revolutionary and a Roman Catholic, has refused to oppose the church-supported ban.

Evangelical groups and the church say abortion is never needed now because medical advances solve the complications that might otherwise put a pregnant mother’s life at risk.

http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/6456/

[Book Lover]

1. K&R

RIP, Olga Reyes.

[physioex]

2. Silly....

Such bans only affect the poor. Elites like Bush can afford to send their women to other countries for abortions...

[Cerridwen]

3. Kick, recommend and gritting teeth

rather than typing the tirade in my mind. It would be incoherent anyway.

:nuke:

[juno jones]

4. I believe

the catholic church even grants an exception in the case of ectopic pregnancy.

[Book Lover]

19. So? That didn't do this woman any good

It is the law, not canon law but real law, that says "No abortions, period." Besides, it doesn't sound to me like the intricacies of canon law (which you can find discussed on DU in the Catholic forum if you are interested) have filtered down to the catholics on the ground who wrote and passed this law.

[Solly Mack]

5. k/r

Would have been kinder to just slit her throat.

Hate kills...and you have to hate women to do this to them

[Vektor]

6. Very sad, considering

that an ectopic pregnancy is never, ever viable, will never produce a live birth. Once the embryo outgrows the confines of that tiny tube, the tube ruptures, the embryo stops developing, and usually the woman exsanguinates and dies of hypovolemic shock. An ectopic pregnancy cannot be "moved" - by the time the woman realizes she is pregnant, the embryo has implanted. Moving it severs it from its blood supply, and ends development right there. Removal of the products of conception is a must in this situation, sadly, the only option. Even women who want children, and tried to become pregnant have to terminate these types of conceptions. This is not "abortion." It is a necessary life-saving medical procedure. Doctors and hospitals do not even call this abortion. There is no viable pregnancy to abort.

Refusing to treat an ectopic pregnancy will only result in the woman's death. Failing to treat will never produce a live infant.

Banning the treatment of ectopic pregnancy is dangerous ignorance.

[Control-Z]

7. I'm speechless

I can't even put into words how this makes me feel. As a woman who almost lost her life to an ectopic pregnancy (before advanced ultrasound technology) and a woman who lost her mother to a self induced abortion prior to Roe, I am angry, saddened, and disgusted by what they've done to you.

When will facts and intelligence, not to mention compassion, finally take priority? When will men stop hating women? What will it take? I'm so at a loss right now. Ugh.

Olga Reyes, I am so sorry for you. I am sorry for your new husband and for all your friends and family - and for the life you should have had the chance to live.

[eridani]

8. This is going on all over Latin America

Leftist governments, already with the oligarchy thugs against them, have decided that they don't want the church on their case as well. Therefore, whatever other good things they've accomplished, they have sacrificed women on this issue.

[David Zephyr]

9. K&R. I hope that some of our "pro-life" DU'ers will read this article.

Thank you, ck4829, for posting this here. K&R.

[knitter4democracy]

18. I'm pro-life, and this sickens me.

There is no pregnancy with an ectopic. Why they think they need to ultrasound and wait for the zygote to die is beyond me. So, losing the woman is better than not losing her?

I'm personally against abortion, but I think the best way to fight it is to take away the reasons women get them in the first place. Good, low-cost childcare, national health care, and better wages for all would seriously cut down on our abortion numbers far more than making it illegal would.

[kimmylavin]

10. Strange logic...

"Evangelical groups and the church say abortion is never needed now because medical advances solve the complications that might otherwise put a pregnant mother’s life at risk."

Medical advances like, say, an ultrasound that can detect an ectopic pregnancy and the ability for a woman to safely terminate said pregnancy?

My head hurts...

[Elspeth]

11. Punishing women for getting pregnant

by letting them die.

[AuntPatsy]

12. Disgusted to "have " to kick and recommend such posts in this day and age.

[gollygee]

13. Horrifying

and there are people who would love to see the same ban here

[NMMNG]

14. Ugh

Evangelical groups and the church say abortion is never needed now because medical advances solve the complications that might otherwise put a pregnant mother’s life at risk.


Sometimes abortion is the only "medical advance" that will solve the complication. Sadly the church doesn't want to recognize that and would rather see the mother die.

[otherlander]

15. Hey, Ortega, stop acting like Ronald Reagan.

[Chovexani]

16. Despicable

And our future if our Talibornagains get their way.

[knitter4democracy]

17. I heard about that on NPR awhile ago. Just sickening.

I think of the girls I worked with ten years ago and that this is affecting them now, and it just makes me ill. I would hate for any of them to be hurt by this stupid policy, and yet, statistically, at least a few have been.

Ectopic pregnancies aren't pregnancies. There is no life, since it's not unusual for the zygote to have many things wrong with it and wouldn't have made it, even if it were in the right spot anyways. Why they have to ultrasound and wait for the zygote to die is beyond me.

[Book Lover]

20. evening kick