Abortion in Paraguay is illegal except in case of the threat to the life of the woman.[1] Anyone who performs anabortion can be sentenced to 15 to 30 months in prison. If the abortion is done without theconsent of the woman, the punishment is increased to 2 to 5 years. If the death of the woman occurred as a result of the abortion, the person who did the procedure can be sentenced to 4 to 6 years in prison, and 5 to 10 years in cases in which she did not consent.[1] InParaguay, 23 out of 100 deaths of young women are the result of illegal abortions.[2] Concerning thisdeath rate, Paraguay has one of the highest in the region.[2]
In April 2015, a story about a 10-year-old Paraguayan girl who was 21 weekspregnant as a result of having allegedly been raped and impregnated by her stepfather came to light.[3] The pregnancy had been discovered when the girl's mother brought her to a local hospital forabdominal pain. Calls from her mother as well as outraged members of the public throughout the world for permission to allow the girl to undergo an abortion procedure were ultimately denied. The girl gave birth to the child via acaesarean section in aRed Cross hospital in Paraguay's capital city ofAsunción later that year.[3] The stepfather has since been prosecuted for the rape and her mother had also been charged with negligence for her alleged role in the circumstances surrounding the rape and pregnancy of her daughter. The high-profile nature of this case has led opposition leftist parties to push for less restrictiveabortion laws inParaguay, such as in cases ofchild pregnancies and in cases ofsexual assault.[3] TheUnited Nations has found that thematernal death rate is four times higher for girls under the age of 14 inLatin America.[3] The 11-year-old girl reportedly survived the birth, and her mother and grandmother both requestedlegal custody of the newborn child.[3]
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