5 Rights, Politics and Power: The Struggle over the 2006 Abortion Reform and the Women’s Movement in Nicaragua Katherine Kruk

Working paper 5 Katherine Kruk

Tags: Nicaragua , Civil Society Building

Since 2006 the Nicaraguan abortion law eliminates all forms of therapeutic abortion in the country with a penalty of up to three years in prison. This paper considers the 2006 Nicaraguan abortion law reform by looking at the situation in the country, with special attention to women’s rights, in particular reproductive rights—and, more specifically, abortion rights. The paper shows that the reform is unrepresentative of the attitudes and opinions of much of its civil society members, namely, women’s organisations.

Further, by analysing the interviews conducted with various women’s  organisations in the country, this paper reveals the diversity of the  women’s movement in Nicaragua. Next, the political motivations behind  this reform are visited through a historical perspective. Kruk looks at  the reinstated president and his incentives for passing the law that  imposes serious limitations on women’s rights in contrast to his  Sandinista regime of the 1980s that encouraged gender equality and  promoted the advancement of women’s concerns. Important political  factors have contributed to this reform, such as the Catholic Church,  sexual education and political pacts. In this paper the contemporary  abortion debate is used as a lens through which to reveal and understand  the contradictions and nuances in the Nicaraguan women’s movement and,  ultimately, to shed light on the nature of the Nicaraguan social  landscape in general