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Mexican rape victim, 13, refused access to abortion
Source: The Guardian
Mexican rape victim, 13, refused access to abortion
Girl in Sonora barred from terminating pregnancy after judge
downgrades crime from rape to ‘sexual coercion’
Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Monday 1 August 2016 23.55 BST
Health officials in northern Mexico have refused to authorize an abortion for a 13-year-old girl who was raped by a family acquaintance after a judge downgraded the crime to a charge of sexual coercion.
Abortion is banned in Sonora, apart from in cases of rape. But human rights advocates say the decision violates federal health regulations introduced earlier this year which guarantee rape victims unrestricted access to safe abortion services – regardless of where they live and whether the crime was reported or not.
The new regulation should supersede state restrictions, but it has left health providers uncertain about who to obey, according to Alex Ali, a lawyer for the Group for Information on Reproductive Choice (Gire) which is representing the victim. “The new regulation requires health services to provide abortions for any woman or girl who says she has been raped, without any other requirements. This has been enough to convince authorities in other states with the same criminal code, so why not in Sonora? It’s down to political will,” he told the Guardian.
Mexico has the highest reported incidence of sexual abuse, violence and murder against children under 14 among the OECD countries. One in four girls is sexually assaulted before the age of 18, according to the latest survey by the Executive Commission of Attention to Victims (CEAV). In 2008 Mexico City became the first place in the country to allow women in their first trimester unobstructed access to abortion services. In response, Sonora was one of 16 states to immediately tighten restrictions on terminations.
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Girl in Sonora barred from terminating pregnancy after judge
downgrades crime from rape to ‘sexual coercion’
Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Monday 1 August 2016 23.55 BST
Health officials in northern Mexico have refused to authorize an abortion for a 13-year-old girl who was raped by a family acquaintance after a judge downgraded the crime to a charge of sexual coercion.
Abortion is banned in Sonora, apart from in cases of rape. But human rights advocates say the decision violates federal health regulations introduced earlier this year which guarantee rape victims unrestricted access to safe abortion services – regardless of where they live and whether the crime was reported or not.
The new regulation should supersede state restrictions, but it has left health providers uncertain about who to obey, according to Alex Ali, a lawyer for the Group for Information on Reproductive Choice (Gire) which is representing the victim. “The new regulation requires health services to provide abortions for any woman or girl who says she has been raped, without any other requirements. This has been enough to convince authorities in other states with the same criminal code, so why not in Sonora? It’s down to political will,” he told the Guardian.
Mexico has the highest reported incidence of sexual abuse, violence and murder against children under 14 among the OECD countries. One in four girls is sexually assaulted before the age of 18, according to the latest survey by the Executive Commission of Attention to Victims (CEAV). In 2008 Mexico City became the first place in the country to allow women in their first trimester unobstructed access to abortion services. In response, Sonora was one of 16 states to immediately tighten restrictions on terminations.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/mexican-victim-13-refused-access-to-abortion
