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Voluntary interruption of pregnancy is totally prohibited in eight countries of the region and continues to be restricted in most of the territories. This leads thousands of women each year to abort in unsafe ways and put their lives at risk to the point that 10% of maternal deaths in Latin America are due to clandestine pregnancy terminations.
Having an unwanted pregnancy or risking your life in an unsafe abortion. That is the decision faced by thousands of women and pregnant people in Latin America and around the world, especially in countries such as El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua, where the voluntary interruption of pregnancy is totally prohibited.
In total, there are eight countries in the region that thus restrict abortion, while only seven contemplate it as a legal option. Most Latin American territories limit it with some exceptions, more or less rigid, depending on the territory.
Not having access to a safe abortion leads many women to go for clandestine procedures. “Normally they are not exercised with all the quality medical guarantees, under the supervision of professionals, and there the lives of women and pregnant people are put at risk,” recalls Almudena Rodríguez, head of political advocacy for the Catalan NGO Associació pels Drets Sexuals i Reproductius.
The consequences of this are extensive: worldwide, 7 million women end up hospitalized for these types of abortions, according to the WHO. Also in data from the same international entity, in Latin America three quarters of all voluntary interruptions of pregnancy are carried out in an unsafe manner. Furthermore, 10% of maternal deaths in the region are the fault of these practices.
All abortions need medical supervision, even pharmacological ones, which only require taking one pill. But that need is even greater in surgical abortions, which involve a direct action on the body of the person who interrupts their pregnancy.
Many of the abortions performed clandestinely are according to the curettage technique, which involves scraping the walls of the uterus with medical instruments. This technique, considered obsolete by the WHO, carries several risks if it is not done with the necessary care and equipment, such as damage to reproductive and internal organs, infections and bleeding.
All this, taking into account that if a complication appears, many women cannot go to medical centers to receive the care they need, since they could be prosecuted for having tried to abort.
However, even in countries where abortion is legal, health systems can put up barriers for people to access this service. Almudena Rodríguez talks about Spain, for example: “In many cities and provinces it is not possible to carry out a voluntary interruption of pregnancy, there are no hospitals, there are no clinics, and they force you to move,” she points out.
Furthermore, “there is no quality information, adapted, free of stigma, and therefore when a woman wishes to carry out a voluntary interruption of pregnancy, it is very difficult for her to know where she can do it and how”, he concludes.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/health-without-access-to-abortion-the-risk-to-the-lives-of-women-in-latin-america/
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