The Deadly Consequence of Abortion Bans

When conservatives advocate outlawing abortion many are reminded of the tragedy of shirt hanger abortions and the damage they caused to women. AP provides an example of a death in response to a law in Nicaragua which bans abortions. Keep in mind that some conservatives here advocate a ban which would not allow exceptions to save the life of the mother:

Two weeks after Olga Reyes danced at her wedding, her bloated and disfigured body was laid to rest in an open coffin — the victim, her husband and some experts say, of Nicaragua’s new no-exceptions ban on abortion.

Reyes, a 22-year-old law student, suffered an ectopic pregnancy. The fetus develops outside the uterus, cannot survive and causes bleeding that endangers the mother. But doctors seemed afraid to treat her because of the anti-abortion law, said husband Agustin Perez. By the time they took action, it was too late.

Nicaragua last year became one of 35 countries that ban all abortions, even to save the life of the mother, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. The ban has been strictly followed, leaving the country torn between a strong tradition of women’s rights and a growing religious conservatism. Abortion rights groups have stormed Congress in recent weeks demanding change, but President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist revolutionary and a Roman Catholic, has refused to oppose the church-supported ban.

Evangelical groups and the church say abortion is never needed now because medical advances solve the complications that might otherwise put a pregnant mother’s life at risk.

But at least three women have died because of the ban, and another 12 reported cases will be examined, said gynecologist and university researcher Eliette Valladares, who is working with the Pan American Health Organization to analyze deaths of pregnant women recorded by Nicaragua’s Health Ministry.

Opposition to abortion rights is not necessarily a pro-life position.

2 Comments

  1. 1
    janet says:

    This scares me so much. My first pregnancy was a hydatidiform mole. OMG, I was so sick. In this rare situation, a fertilized egg implants which is considered a human being to right to lifers. But then it goes ballistic in the uterus. I needed two D&C’s to get rid of it and to save my life.

    Are they not treating these in Nicaragua???

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    I’m reluctant to definitely say they are not based upon one news report, but the impression I get from the article is that the current law would make doctors afraid to treat.

    Conservatives go ballistic over anything they consider “socialized medicine” with all sorts of scare stories about what will happen when government makes decisions regarding health care. The real scare stories come when religion is allowed to intrude upon medical decisions.

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