Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the total ban on abortion in the Dominican Republic threatens women’s health and lives and is compatible with the country’s international human rights obligations. The ban primarily affects the poor as the wealthy have the option of traveling abroad for the service.
Abortion is illegal in the Dominican Republic even when a pregnancy is life-threatening, unviable, or the result of rape or incest. Congress is debating whether to decriminalize abortion in these cases.
“The Dominican Republic’s legislators have an opportunity to reform the country’s archaic criminal code and decriminalize abortion in three circumstances,” says Ximena Casas, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Women and girls in the Dominican Republic have had a long wait for the authorities to defend their lives and their sexual and reproductive rights.”...
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