Will the Zika virus prompt Latin America to rethink abortion and birth control?
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The Zika virus outbreak and its probable association with microcephaly in newborns are prompting calls
to loosen Latin
America's strict abortion laws and make birth control more readily available.
Abortion is fully criminalized in six countries in the region.
In El Salvador, for instance, women who have
abortions can face
prison.
In many other countries, including Brazil and Colombia, abortion is permitted only in cases of
rape, incest or fetal
impairment.
As Zika raises anxieties about babies born with significant medical problems, some physicians and
reproductive health
advocates think the virus should create another legal exception for abortion.
Even though abortion is outlawed in much of Latin America, women still seek it out at legal and physical
risk.
In fact, 13 percent
of maternal deaths (the fourth highest cause) in the region can be attributed to unsafe abortions.
Concern about Zika could lead to real change for reproductive health for millions of women in the region.
But this can happen
only if the expansion of abortion and contraception is based on human rights and reproductive health
equity, not driven
primarily by fears of defective babies.
Abortion is restricted in most of Latin America
Abortion is fully criminalized, with no exceptions, in El Salvador, Chile, Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Nicaragua and Suriname.
In El
Salvador, 30 to 40 women are serving prison sentences for seeking abortions.
In many other countries, including Argentina, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia, abortion is
permitted under certain
circumstances.
In Brazil, for instance, abortion has been allowed since 1940 in instances of rape or endangerment to the
woman.
Women who
seek abortions outside these exceptions and the physicians who perform the procedure can be
imprisoned.
IMG
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