The Zika virus outbreak and its probable association with microcephaly in newborns are prompting Latin America’s strict abortion laws and make birth control more readily available.
Abortion is fully criminalized in six countries in the region. In El Salvador, for instance, . In many other countries, including Brazil and Colombia, abortion is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or fetal impairment.
As Zika raises anxieties about babies born with significant medical problems, some physicians and reproductive health advocates think the virus should for abortion.
Even though abortion is outlawed in much of Latin America, women still seek it out at legal and physical risk. In fact, (the fourth highest cause) in the region can be attributed to unsafe abortions.
Concern about Zika could lead to real change for reproductive health for millions of women in the region. But this can happen only if the expansion of abortion and contraception is based on human rights and reproductive health equity, not driven primarily by fears of defective babies.
Abortion is restricted in most of Latin America
Abortion is fully criminalized, with no exceptions, in El Salvador, Chile, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua and Suriname. In El Salvador, 30 to 40 women are serving prison sentences .
In many other countries, including Argentina, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia, .
In Brazil, for instance, in instances of . Women who seek abortions outside these exceptions and the physicians who perform the procedure can be imprisoned.
In 2012, Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld anencephaly (the absence of parts of the brain and skull in the fetus) as a , creating a new exception.
Health officials in Brazil have suggested that women . While Brazilian women are using contraception at a slowly increasing rate, , there are significant class and regional divides when it comes to access.
In 2006, Colombia’s Constitutional Court issued , guaranteeing three health exceptions for abortion: when the woman’s health is endangered, when serious malformations make the fetus unviable or when the pregnancy has resulted from criminal acts such as rape or incest. The decision was based, in part, on action from two groups called Women’s Link Worldwide and La Mesa.
Now that , affecting as many as , some physicians and women’s health advocates are eyeing the possibility of another exception.
While that possibility is debated, officials are urging women of childbearing age to avoid pregnancy, a suggestion as problematic as it is unrealistic. Colombia has , and birth control is expensive.
El Salvador, Ecuador and Jamaica have made similar calls for .
A member of ‘Miles,’ an NGO supporting sexual and reproductive rights, shows pins that read ‘I support the abortion decision’ at their headquarters in Santiago. Source: Reuters
Why is access to birth control and abortion so restricted?
Up to one-half of sexually active women in Latin America . (compared in the United States).
Many factors for so many Latin American women. Cost can be a significant barrier to access, but it’s not the only one.
The Catholic Church and evangelical religions are stalwart opponents to abortion and contraception. Even when there is , legislatures have been exceedingly slow to enact change.
For instance, in the mid-2000s, , casting it as an important public health issue. Despite rising public support, he could not obtain enough support from his own left-wing Worker’s Party (PT) to change existing law.
Judicial interpretation frequently invokes moral law about protecting the right to life from conception. For example, both Argentina’s Civil Code and Brazil’s Penal Code and Constitution uphold that . This has been invoked in a range of abortion cases.
Finally, mainstream media coverage of abortion tends to be negative and .
These obstacles are why women’s rights groups and reproductive health advocates, like those who argued for exceptions in Colombia, have strategically used harm reduction and exception rationales to open wedges in ironclad abortion policies.
Where is abortion legal in Latin America?
Abortion is legal and accessible in just a few places in Latin America.
In 1995, Guyana allowed women to in the first eight weeks of pregnancy. After that, abortion is available under certain circumstances.
In 2007, following campaigns that involved women’s groups, supportive legislators and NGOs, Mexico City bucked national policy and . The decision was based on .
In 2012, Uruguay made abortion available upon request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, following a five-day period of reflection for the woman considering termination. Later-term abortions are permitted in instances of rape and when a women’s health is endangered.
Uruguayan senators vote 17 to 14 in favor of a bill to legalize abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in Montevideo. Source: Reuters
The seeds for this change were planted in the mid-2000s with the implementation of a “harm reduction model,” which allowed women to induce abortions using drugs like Mifeprex. Although this law depended on the logic of health exception, it was passed amid increasing emphasis on health equity. Since its passage, maternal deaths due to abortion have decreased markedly in the country. Uruguay now has after Canada and the United States.
Not surprisingly, contraception also is more accessible and accepted in countries where abortion laws are less restrictive. For example, a 2014 Pew Research Center poll found that only .
Underground abortions are a major public health problem
Zika is a public emergency in Latin America, forcing nations to devote resources to halting its continued spread. But unsafe abortion is another public health crisis the region faces.
Latin America has the highest incidence of unsafe abortion in the world, resulting in . According to the Guttmacher Institute, of the 4.4 million abortions performed in all of Latin America in 2008, . About for complications from these substandard procedures each year.
Many of the women harmed by lack of access to abortion are indigenous, low-income or live in rural areas. They may not have money nor the legal resources to obtain abortions in private clinics or to make a case for an exception based on rape or incest.
Indeed, , making access to emergency contraception and abortion all the more critical.
The Zika outbreak has the potential to promote change in abortion and birth control policies across Latin America. Yet these reproductive health options should not be framed simply as solutions to the latest health crisis or the specter of babies with deformities. Women need contraception and access to safe, legal abortion whether they are living in an area where Zika is active, or not.
Following the lead of Uruguay and Mexico City, framing abortion and contraception in terms of human rights and reproductive health equity could help expand access to these critical services for millions of women.
