Blog #8: Some Women’s Groups Say Uruguay’s New Abortion Law Falls Short

Some Women’s Groups Say Uruguay’s New Abortion Law Falls Short

In Uruguay, Congress passed a law yesterday decriminalizing abortion, where it is now legal for a women to have an abortion in cased other than danger to mother's life, incest, malformation of fetus, and rape. Passing that law made Uruguay the second country in Latin America to do so. Many people argue this bill has many holes and it and does not really help or satisfy anyone. With this new bill, women have to tell the doctor why they want to have the abortion, after this they will refer the women to a panel of three professionals: a social worker, a psychologist, and a gynecologist. From there, they will advise her of the law, the risk, the alternatives, and then give her 5 days to decide if she wants to continue with the process of not. If she chooses to continue, she will be allowed to have the procedure in one of the country's clinic or hospitals. Many women against this feel as though they have already gone through the process of deciding whether to terminate the pregnancy or not, so why should they have to go through that process again, with individuals judging her and not knowing her at all. Now in Latin America, abortion is only legal in Uruguay, Cuba, and Mexico City. This is all due to the strong catholic faith in these counties, that the mother's can get abortion under certain reasons and in Nicaragua it is illegal in ALL circumstances. Many groups feel like this is a step forward in women's health and surprisingly according to the MYSU, the highest abortion rates are in Latin America and Africa where in almost every country and where the women have unplanned pregnancies. In a survey conducted in the summer of this year, 51% or people were for decriminalizing abortion.

This is a big step for Latin America especially Mexico City (who has one of the largest populations in the world), Cuba, and Uruguay. Being there is a strong catholic viewpoint in Latin America, I do understand why abortions where outlawed, but I do not agree with it being a crime and women going to jail behind it. In most cases, the women consults with the father before going through with the procedure, so why should she be the only one to go through the panel process or possibly to jail by herself. This is happening in many countries around the world where women are given the short (and I mean tiny) end of the stick when it comes to their rights as human beings. A man can get a vasectomy with no problem or no fear of being a criminal, yet when a women decides for herself to not go through with a pregnancy it is wrong. Men's rights are always seen as the "norm" and when we repeal at times its looks at as being deviant to what society think is the "norm" for a female ie. pushing out babies whether they want to or not. This is a global issue and so is child poverty, abuse, murder and neglect. It's shown that kids are victimized by their parents more than strangers and yet governments still make people have these kids knowing the treatment they would receive if the parents don't want them. I'm sure the issue of abortion for most people is more of a moral value, yet no one should push and force what they believe on someone else, not even the government. It is their bodies let them control their destiny's and if they choose to have kids in that destiny or not.        

http://www.globalissues.org/news/2012/10/18/15079