Amnesty Encourages Other Governments to Condemn Nicaraguan Abortion Ban

By Samantha Singson | February 5, 2010

In anticipation of Nicaragua’s Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council scheduled for February 8, Amnesty International is encouraging other countries to urge the government to repeal its abortion ban.

The Universal Periodic Review is an opportunity for the UN Human Rights Council to examine the human rights record of all member states. Each country is reviewed every four years with the aim of ensuring states are meeting all of their human rights obligations.

“Nicaragua’s ban on abortion is the result of a shocking and draconian law that is compelling rape and incest victims to carry pregnancies to term and causing a rise in maternal deaths,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International. “UN member states should take this opportunity to hold Nicaragua to account for a law that violates women’s right to life, health and dignity.”

Last year, AI released a report slamming the Nicaraguan abortion ban. After the release of that report, the organization has been asked to account for their findings. Matthew Hoffman, a reporter for LifeSiteNews.com investigating Amnesty’s claims about the Nicaraguan ban, found that the organization had actually falsified the date the criminal code was changed in “an apparent attempt to cover up the fact that maternal mortality actually fell in 2007, the year after exceptions in the penal code for ‘therapeutic abortions’ were abolished.”

AI is going beyond urging a repeal of the ban, reiterating its call for Nicaragua to decriminalize abortion “in all circumstances.”

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