Women in Nicaragua fight for the right to get abortions that could save their lives

Women in Nicaragua fight for the right to get abortions that could save their lives

August 16, 2016 · 4:45 PM EDT
By Shuka Kalantari


A year ago, Franci Machado started feeling really sick with nausea and vomiting. She went to the hospital and then again when her symptoms worsened a month later. Doctors told her she had thyroid cancer. And that she was two months pregnant.

Machado, a 26-year-old single mother, needed chemotherapy to save her life, but that could kill the fetus. Under Nicaraguan law, that’s considered an abortion. So doctors refused to treat Machado.

Abortion is illegal in Nicaragua, even if a woman’s life is at risk and in cases of child rape. Women’s rights activists have been fighting to change these laws since they were enacted a decade ago.

Machado has a sidewalk beauty shop in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua. It's nothing more than a tarp, a small mirror and an old swivel chair. She also has two small children.

More:
http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-16/women-nicaragua-fight-right-get-abortions-could-save-their-lives

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016165535