Friday, November 03, 2006
Abortion ban in NicaraguaAnd now for another example of the odious collusion of Church and State, this time in Nicaragua:
FSLN and rightwing parties ALN (Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense) and PLC (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista) have joined forces to revoke a 100-year-old law in the Nicaraguan penal code that permitted abortion on therapeutic grounds, allowing for abortion if the life of the mother was at risk.
Just days before the presidential election, due to be celebrated on the 5th of November, 28 deputies from FSLN, along with 6 from ALN and 18 from PLC, have voted to revoke the law, in what looks like an electoral effort by the FSLN to court the Catholic vote. According to El País:
The FSLN had never come out against abortion before. But the agreement reached between the party's leader, Daniel Ortega, and Cardinal Miguel Obando in order to win over church voters has been decisive. (My translation)
Women's rights organisations have protested against the ban, and some, like Dr. Ana María Pizarro, have spoken out against FSLN women deputies voting in favour of the ban:
"It's shameful that female deputies have voted to revoke this law, since many of them had given their word not to eliminate therapeutic abortion. They didn't have the courage to face up to their "boss". Everybody knows that rich women go to Miami when they need an abortion, and Sandinista women, to Cuba". (My translation).
Given the U-turn taken by previously staunch atheist Daniel Ortega, whose political broadcasts are getting more pious by the day, some leftwing supporters are splitting hairs, and decrying "danielismo" -as opposed to "sandinismo"- as responsible for this church-friendly approach. Such semantic squabbles, however, will be of little interest to the 400 women who, according to the BBC, suffer ectopic pregnancies in Nicaragua each year, now effectively facing a death sentence.
posted by Diana Perez Garcia at 6:06 PM | link |
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