Posted on 11/18/2006 10:10:31 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos has signed into law a ban on all abortions, even in cases when a woman's life is judged to be at risk.
Previous legislation from a century ago allowed an abortion if three doctors certified that the woman was in danger.
Abortion was a central issue for November's presidential election in mainly Roman Catholic Nicaragua.
President-elect Daniel Ortega once favoured abortion rights but changed stance after re-embracing Catholicism.
Mr Bolanos signed the law in the presence of Roman Catholic bishops and Protestant evangelist leaders.
Maternal deaths
The new legislation would help protect the right to life enshrined in the Nicaraguan constitution, a statement on the presidency's website said.
The law abolished abortion rights "which allowed the daily execution of innocent children in their mother's womb, in open violation of the Constitution which protected the unborn child", the statement said.
Nicaragua already had strong anti-abortion laws, with women and doctors who take part in abortions facing prison sentences of up to six years.
But in October the national assembly unanimously approved the new ban.
The timing of the vote was opposed by Nicaragua's medical association and representatives from the United Nations and European Union, who warned that the debate had become politicised ahead of the election.
Doctors and women's rights campaigners also argued that the change in the law would increase maternal deaths and infant mortality.
Public opinion
The former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega was a defender of Nicaragua's limited abortion rights and a critic of the Catholic church when he led a left-wing Nicaraguan government in the 1980s.
He has since been reconciled with the church and has become a strident opponent of abortion.
Public opinion in Nicaragua, which is estimated to be 85% Roman Catholic, appeared to be behind the bill.
Similarly strict laws are in place in Chile and El Salvador.
In many other Latin American countries, abortion is permitted if the woman's life is in danger.
In May, abortion restrictions were partially eased in Colombia to permit terminations in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother or foetus is in danger.
sick really sick. Everyone should have the right to protect their life. Would any of the men who voted for this let their wife die? This is horrible. Pregnancy should not be a death sentence. I am shaking this is so horrible.
any life threatening situation can be ended with a ceaserian as effectively as it can with an abortion. My wife and I opted for that at 36 weeks when her blood pressure went through the roof. We now have a great little three year old to show for it and my wife is doing fine.
Anyone who disagrees with you is a liberal?
Unfortunately sometimes preeclampsia hits very hard before the baby can survive. I'm glad your wife was so near term when it hit her. I lost a baby at twenty weeks this summer - I was told I would not live long enough to give her any chance at all.
It was a Catholic hospital where only inductions or Caesarians are done in these cases. However, there are hospitals and physicians who tell women that a D&E or partial birth abortion or lethal injection must be done. The guilt is awful enough without having gone through that.
Mrs VS
+
If you want on (or off) this Catholic and Pro-Life ping list, let me know!
I guess Danny Ortega won't be getting any sexual favors from Nina Burleigh anytime soon.
Ah, she'll probably still do it anyway.
I wonder if Ortega's leftist friends on Capitol Hill know this.
And I also wonder what other changes Ortega has made. Funny how God moves sometimes.
How often is a woman's life saved by an abortion?
Fact sheet: Pregnancy-Related Deaths in the United States, 1987-1990
Frequency of Pregnancy-Related Deaths
* From 1987 through 1990, 1,459 deaths in the United States were reported to be pregnancy-related. A pregnancy-related death is one that occurs during pregnancy or within 1 year of its end and is a result of complications of the pregnancy or a condition that was aggravated by the pregnancy.
http://pregnancy.about.com/library/blmorbidfacts.htm
The Magnitude of Maternal Morbidity During Labor and Delivery, United States, 1993-1997
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/fs030327.htm
If we don't kill the babies first, they will face increased risk of death?
That makes LOTS of sense!
The problem in Nicaragua was simply a variation on the one we have here, where every abortionist can somehow justify every late abortion as health-related. The Supreme Court has upheld "health-related" to include "risk of depression, etc." In Nicaragua, they simply changed it to "risk of suicide" and the slight risk associated with regular childbirth. As other posters pointed out, there are ways to deal with all of the pregnancy related issues without performing an abortion (that is, the direct, purposeful killing of the unborn child.) and still treat the mother as a patient whose life is to be saved.
Since you claimed that ANY (as in all inclusive without exception) life threatening situation can be ended with a cesarean, my wife has challenged you to answer the following:
What do you do with a young woman who's 12 weeks pregnant who's OB, investigating atypical spotting and pain discovers that the patient has uterine cancer? Radiation, chemo, and surgery will all either end the pregnancy, or require the prior termination of pregnancy. So please, how is a cesarean supposed to help this woman?
But isn’t abortion safer than childbirth?
Pro-abortion people commonly say that it is. "Maternal mortality" is listed as deaths of women per 100,000 pregnancies. This figure has been commonly listed as eleven, compared to deaths from induced abortion, which are listed as one or two. Therefore, they say abortion is seven times safer. Not so! Maternal mortality, in recent years, has dropped to seven, not eleven.
But more important is the fact that, included in maternal mortality, are all deaths from induced abortions and ectopic pregnancies. Included also in maternal mortality are all women who die while pregnant from almost any cause that is in any way related to pregnancy. Different states require longer or shorter lengths of post-partum time, but, typically, maternal mortality also includes any related death within one year after delivery.
Maternal mortality also includes deaths from caesarean section. To compare comparable risks, one would have to compare the risk of being pregnant in the first three months with the risk of having an abortion within the first three months. When compared in this fashion, abortion is many times more dangerous. Actually, it is probable that induced abortion is more dangerous than carrying a baby to term. Maternal Mortality Surveillance ’79-’86, Center for Disease Control, M&M Weekly report July ’91, Vol. 40, No. SS-1
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/SFL/abortion_policy.htm
Comparing the risk of having an abortion within the first three months with the risk of being pregnant in the first three months is invalid.
Imagine having a condition which would kill you within a year, say an weakening aortic aneurysm. If you have an operation right now, your risks of dying from that operation are two percent. Your chances of surviving the next week are better if you don't have the operation, but you'd still better have that operation.
The risks of pregnancy increase with time.
It is true as you say, that abortion deaths should not be compared to total pregnancy deaths when those include abortion deaths.
Mrs VS
Nicaragua ROCKS!
I think that the patient should decide for themselves what course of action is best for them when dealing with a health crisis. Some women will risk their lives for a pregnancy, some will not. It is their life or death that they are deciding on. The doctor should give them the info on the dangers of each course of action and them let them decide for themselves.
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