Laws Still Tough on Abortion in Latin America Anastasia Moloney - TrustLaw
go to original October 23, 2012

An anti-abortion activist holds clay dolls in the shape of fetuses during a protest in Mexico City. (Reuters/Bernardo Montoya)

BOGOTA - Latin America has some of the world’s strictest abortion laws.

In most countries in the region, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother or fetus is in danger. A handful of countries, mostly in Central America, have banned abortion under any circumstances.

Below is a look at the region’s abortion laws:

• Abortion is completely banned in five countries in Latin America – the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, and Honduras.
• Cuba, Guyana, and most recently Uruguay, are the only three countries in Latin America that allow abortion for all women beyond cases of rape, incest or a woman’s health.
• On Oct. 17, 2012, Uruguay's congress voted narrowly to legalise abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
• Abortion is legal in Mexico City and in some states in Mexico up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
• 95 percent of abortions in Latin America are considered to be unsafe, involving women performing abortions on themselves and sur­gery carried out by untrained health providers, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.
• In 2008, 4.4 million women in Latin America had unsafe, clandestine abortions, according to WHO.
• Every year, about one million women in Latin America and the Caribbean end up in hospital for treatment following complications from unsafe abortions, including excessive blood loss and infection.
• In 2008, 12 percent of all maternal deaths – 1,100 in total – in Latin America and the Caribbean were due to unsafe abortions, WHO says.

(Sources: Guttmacher Institute, World Health Organisation and Central America Women's Network)

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