Gynecologist and women’s rights activist Lilliam Fondeur says that there will be an increase in maternal mortality rates (MMR) in the country if the law on sentencing for doctors and other health professionals who help to carry out abortions is passed and enforced.
The proposed reform to the Penal Code states that there will be sentences of up to 10 years for anyone assisting a woman to have a late stage abortion.
Fondeur said it will prevent doctors from helping and in future health professionals would just have to abandon the woman to her fate.
She said that it was an inhuman law that would prevent them from carrying out their vocation which was to save lives, pointing out that when a woman is miscarrying, if she doesn’t receive medical attention she could suffer hemorrhaging and infections that could lead to death in a few hours. She went on the say that the solution was not to increase penalties but to prevent unwanted pregnancies with sex education and access to contraceptives.
According to the Demographic and Health Research institute (Endesa), in this country, MMR stands at 159 for every 100,000 live births. In the US the 2010 figure was 21 for every 100,000 live births. In Jamaica the rate is slightly lower, at 110 per every 100,000 live births. However, in the DR MMR is skewed by the numbers of women who come from Haiti to give birth, often without having received any pre-natal care. In Haiti itself, the MMR is 350 per every 100,000 live births.
The maternal mortality rate (MMR) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The MMR includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year.
www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2012/10/17/138461/Advierte-aumento-mortalidad-materna
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html