As a committee of the Irish Parliament considers proposals to offer limited legal abortion in Ireland, this paper explores how these issues came together around Savita Halappanavar’s death, the interpretation of Catholic health policy and the consequences for pregnant women.
The legality of abortion in Latin America varies from country to country. The one constant almost everywhere is the inaccessibilty of a safe, legal procedure.
Doctors were forced to wait to treat her cancer due to fears it could terminate the pregnancy, while her mother pleaded for an abortion in an effort to save her daughter’s life.
Weekly global roundup: Reproductive Health Bill still looms as a promise in the Philippines; the UN hears testimony of rape in Syria; US Christian Right camps out in Africa; Abortion ban in the Dominican Republic impedes a teen’s cancer treatment.
In the Dominican Republic, groups have been working to secure political and public support for reducing teenage pregnancy and ensuring access to youth-friendly health services and education. In the Dominican Republic, high rates of adolescent fertility and maternal mortality have attracted the attention of national authorities and civil society organizations.
PROFAMILIA in the Dominican Republic successfully links HIV testing and treatment and SRH services and becomes a model for the region.
An aggressive advocacy campaign by the Catholic Church has resulted in changes in the Constitution of the Dominican Republic protecting “the right to life” from the moment of conception to death.
