Bloodless Coup

Pregnant at Nine

Nicaragua's restrictive abortion laws are again in the news, this time with regard to a case of a nine year old girl who was raped and impregnated by an older cousin (article in Spanish). At this point, the judicial authorities have decided that she may not have an abortion because her pregnancy is too far advanced (27 weeks) and abortion is illegal anyway:

"No queda mas que prepararse y esperar el parto" ["There's nothing left but to prepare herself and wait for labor."]

As horrific as the details of this individual case may be, they are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the treatment of young women in rural areas:

"ha servido para revelar una verdadera endemia, sobre todo en la parte rural, de ninas abusadas, casadas a tierna edad, vendidas, y, por supuesto, todas con embarazos de alto riesgo." [The case has served to reveal a veritable epidemic, most of all in rural areas, of abused girls, married at very young ages, sold, and of course, all with high risk pregnancies."

In Bluefields, where the girl is from, this year there were 82 reports of sexual violence, the principal form of which is rape against girls and young women aged 13-17.

The girl in this case is being taken from her family, to a larger city with better health facilities due to the extreme risk the birth will place on her medical health. The cousin has been expelled from the family residence.

Opponents of abortion and of hormonal contraception in the U.S. argue that it gives perpetrators of this kind of abuse free reign to do as they please, that they will be able to abuse and impregnate girls at will, without facing the consequences of their actions. Nicaragua has the kind of restrictive abortion law that anti-choice (and by this I mean not only anti-abortion but also anti-contraception) advocates call for, but the only one suffering consequences here is the girl. And it's not just this child, but many others around the country, especially in rural areas. Taking this one child from her family is not the solution to the problem... for a common occurrence like this goes beyond dysfunctional family units. The problem these girls face isn't the hypothetical oppression - proposed by anti-choicers - of having a choice to contracept or abort, but the very real oppression of their lives being disregarded by their society and legal system.

Posted by binky at August 30, 2007 12:21 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Latin America | Reproductive Autonomy