Struggle over "killer law" by the Women’s Movement in Nicaragua

A new "Power of Civil Society" working paper

Tags: Nicaragua , Civil Society Building

In February 2010 Nicaragua made the international news headlines for refusing cancer-treatment to 27-year old pregnant “Amalia”. For Amalia, who is also mother of a 10-year old, the treatment would be potentially life-saving but the current Nicaraguan law is placing doctors at risk of prosecution in providing cancer treatment to Amalia as it may harm the fetus.

Since 2006 Nicaragua has a total ban on therapeutic abortion, also popularly known as the "killer law". In July 2008 a revised penal code introduced sanctions for doctors and nurses who treat a pregnant woman for medical conditions such as cancer or cardiac emergencies where the treatment may cause injury to or death of the embryo or foetus. According to research carried out by Amnesty International in 2009, the absolute ban on abortions particularly affects young girls who are victims of rape or incest. It also found an increase in maternal deaths since the introduction of the ban. Before the law was changed therapeutic abortion had been recognized as a necessary procedure in Nicaragua for more than 100 years, Amnesty said. Nicaragua is among only a few countries in the world where abortion is illegal regardless of any circumstances. Others in Latin America include Chile, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Our former MA student Katherine Kruk has conducted research in Nicaragua. Her main research question evolves around the following: “Why was the women’s movement in Nicaragua unable to prevent the total prohibition of therapeutic abortion in Nicaragua late 2006?” She then elaborates on how the women’s movement responded before the proposed law reform and after it had been adopted.

For her research Kruk interviewed members of eight women’s organisations, while she was based at the Centre for Human Rights Nicaragua (CENIDH). In the paper respondents vividly describe their experiences and the different strategies of their organisations, while Kruk analysed their information within an international human rights framework. Kruk concludes that especially the political context of Nicaragua has severely hampered the efforts of the women’s movement, and she underlines the need for more advocacy on this issue.

About the Author

Born in Canada, Katherine Kruk got her master’s degree from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, The Netherlands, in 2007. Her study area is in Human Rights, Development and Social Justice. In cooperation with Hivos and ISS Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme Katherine conducted field research in 2006 in Nicaragua.

Extra references:

See YouTube video on Amalia’s case here.

Read Amnesty news articles on Amalia’s story here and here.

Download the Amnesty International research report from 2009 on the effects of the abortion ban in Nicaragua here and the report “Denial of Access to Emergency Obstetric Care and Therapeutic Abortion in Nicaragua” published in 2007 by Human Rights Watch here.

Watch an informative video by CENIDH (ao) with English subtitles here: Part 1 and Part 2). One other video (in Spanish) on the anti-abortion law is made by our Hivos/ISS Knowledge Programme partner Movimiento Autonomo de Mujeres (MAM), which you can watch here.