Amnesty Wants Latin American Countries to Stop Forcibly Sterilizing Women with HIV Roque Planas - The Huffington Post
go to original March 9, 2016

A group of women hold a banner during the Women's World March at the Zócalo square in Mexico City in 2008, on the sidelines of the XVII International AIDS/HIV Conference. A new report by Amnesty International documents what it describes as widespread gender violence in Latin America. (Alfredo Estrella/Getty Images)

Amnesty International is asking Latin American and Caribbean governments to decriminalize abortion and stop forcibly sterilizing women with HIV.

The human rights group called attention to a wide-ranging series of public health failures across eight Latin American and Caribbean countries in a report released Monday, contending that state policies in the region often fuel violence against women.

The report describes Latin America and the Caribbean as a region where “more than half of pregnancies are unwanted or unplanned, where there are extremely high rates of sexual violence, where the demand for contraception far outstrips availability and where cultural norms continue to give pride of place to women’s role as mothers.” Governments make matters worse by sharply restricting access to abortion, allowing religious groups too much influence over public health choices, and at times pressing women to make health decisions without their consent, the report says.

...While it’s unclear how widespread the practice is, the report cites research documenting cases of forced or coerced sterilization of women with HIV in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. The practice violates global human rights standards and should be considered a form of violence against women, according to Amnesty International.

With treatment and precautions during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding, the risk of transmitting HIV from mother to child can be reduced to rates as low as 5 percent, according to the World Health Organization. Without treatment, rates range between 15 and 45 percent.

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