Published 28 July 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3075
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3075

News

Nicaragua’s abortion ban criminalises doctors and endangers lives of women, says report

Andrew Cole

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Doctors in Nicaragua face imprisonment and loss of their licence to practise if they provide pregnant women with therapeutic abortions or with treatment for an unrelated condition that harms their unborn baby, a new report from Amnesty International says.

The report says that the lives and health of women and girls are being placed at serious risk after the country imposed a complete ban on all abortions in the country a year ago.

The new law, which was opposed by 21 Nicaraguan medical associations, means that women face imprisonment for seeking an abortion even if their pregnancy puts their life or health at risk or is the result of rape or incest.

It also threatens medical professionals with prosecution and loss of their licence if they take part in an abortion, including a therapeutic abortion, or cause unintentional harm to the fetus. Amnesty International says that this would extend to . . . [Full text of this article]


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