U.N. to Spotlight Ecuador's Punitive Abortion Law

U.N. to Spotlight Ecuador's Punitive Abortion Law


This week international groups are joining Ecuadoran women and girls to urge the U.N. to press Ecuador's government to reform its abortion laws. Currently unsafe abortion is the second leading cause of injury in women and girls in the country.


A young schoolgirl attends class in Cajabamba, Ecuador.




(WOMENSENEWS)--Alejandra, a young woman from southern Ecuador, described what happened after she was raped. Her period was late, but she was afraid to take a pregnancy test, she told a group of women who had gathered to discuss the issue. "I waited and waited like 15 more days until I took a test--and it was positive," said Alejandra, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, at the gathering in Guayaquil, on Ecuador's coast.
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Many others also face this desperate choice, due to Ecuador's strict abortion law. Ecuador's criminal code provides for only three exceptions to a prohibition on abortion: a threat to the life of a pregnant woman, or to her health when the danger can't be averted by other means, and in the case of a rape or statutory rape of a woman with a mental disability. Other women or girls who are raped may not get a legal abortion.

The result? Unsafe abortion is the second leading cause of injury in women and girls in Ecuador. One in four women in the country have experienced some type of sexual violence, indicates a government study. And while there is no accurate data on how many pregnancies result, some experts attribute an alarming increase in pregnancies among young adolescents in recent years to violent incidents.

In response, this week in Geneva Ecuadoran groups, along with Planned Parenthood Global and Human Rights Watch, are highlighting the issue before a United Nations committee that assesses countries' actions to eliminate discrimination against women. The committee monitors the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, known as CEDAW. The committee has urged many countries to decriminalize abortion.

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http://womensenews.org/story/abortion/150218/un-spotlight-ecuadors-punitive-abortion-law