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GUEST: Katheryn Hoyt, Co-Director of the Nicaragua Network

An untold number of women in Nicaragua have died in the year since a total ban on abortion was made law in November 2006. Pro-choice activists say that the number deaths either directly or indirectly tied to the ban is at least eighty-two. The punitive punishments included in the new law for undergoing an abortion has lead to a climate of fear among women and doctors. Approved by the parliament and reaffirmed last month, the law stipulates that doctors who perform an abortion face one to three years in prison and risk being banned from their professions for up to five years. Women who have abortions face up one to two years in prison. The total ban, which includes no exceptions for rape, incest or life and health threatening pregnancies, has been challenged in Nicaragua’s Supreme Court. However, no review of the appeal has occurred despite the fact that numerous appeals have been presented since January 2007. The ban was originally enacted in the lead up to Presidential elections that returned Daniel Ortega to the presidency last year.

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