Denied abortions, Latin American child rape survivors petition UN

Reproductive rights groups petitioned a United Nations agency on Wednesday on behalf of four young pregnant rape survivors in Latin America, calling on the region to ease up on its restrictive abortion laws.

Due to the laws, the girls were forced to carry their unwanted pregnancies to term and became “mothers against their will”, said the petition by the US-based Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood Global and other rights groups in Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Mostly Catholic, Latin America and the Caribbean have some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, often only allowing the procedure under the most limited circumstances.

A handful of countries, mostly in Central America, have total bans on abortion, including in cases of rape or incest or when the woman’s life or fetus is in danger.

The four girls from Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua cited in the petition were younger than 14 years old when they were raped, two by relatives and one by a local parish priest, according to the rights groups.

The petition was filed before the UN’s Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), which monitors how and if member countries implement their commitments to human rights.

The UNHCR can issue non-binding resolutions and recommendations to pressure countries to improve their human rights record and change their laws.

‘Put their lives at risk’

The rights groups hope the petition will put a spotlight on how stringent abortion laws affect girls’ health and contribute to high teenage pregnancy rates among rape survivors. 

“Too many young girls in Latin America, and around the world, have been put in situations that threaten their rights and put their lives at risk because they are not able to access abortion care,” said Leana Wen, head of Planned Parenthood Global and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

“Forcing young girls to continue a pregnancy no matter their circumstances or wants, is not only cruel, but will have devastating impacts for them, their families, and their communities,” she said in a statement.

The issue of abortion deeply divides Latin America.

In both Ecuador and Guatemala, about 5,000 girls age 10 to 14 give birth every year, while in Peru four girls under 15 give birth every day, the rights groups said.

Pro-abortion rights activists point to the dangers of illegal abortion, especially among young girls, and say young girls who are pregnant or give birth are more likely to die than older pregnant women.

“The failure of states to guarantee reproductive rights is a clear violation of human rights,” said Nancy Northup, head of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Thomson Reuters Foundation reported.