Teen and even pre-teen pregnancies are a sad reality in the Dominican Republic, and this has been true for decades. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has expressed its concern the DR has one of the highest pregnancy rates in the Americas and the world. According to UNFPA stats, 20% of all births in the Dominican Republic are to women between the ages of 15-19 years of age. Teenage births result in poor educational, job, income, and health outcomes. The note says that women with a college degree earn three times the income of those with just a primary education.
Rubén Maldonado (Santo Domingo – Fuerza del Pueblo), a former president of the Chamber of Deputies, resubmitted to the Chamber of Deputies a bill containing three grounds for abortion in the Dominican Republic on 11 November 2022. He says the initiative is an attempt to remove obstacles for the passing of the Penal Code, stagnated for years in Congress. Maldonado says the bills have not passed for lack of political will. The Catholic and Evangelic churches are strongly against the three grounds for abortion. Maldonado says the separating of the issue of abortion from the Penal Code is an attempt at removing the obstacle to its passing in Congress.
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Diario Libre 28 November printed edition
28 November 2022