Six years after©passing the Fristgesetz ± that legalized abortion, Uruguay has nearly eradicated women`s deaths from clandestine abortions. In addition, improved reproductive health care has reduced the number of unwanted pregnancies, and the authorities are seeing significant improvements in maternal and newborn health. With an average of 815 abortions per month, statistics show that the number of procedures is stable. From 2013 to 2016, only three deaths due to unsafe abortions were recorded. This situation began to reverse the following year when a group of health experts decided to implement the “Health Initiatives Against Unsafe Abortion” programme. For example, one of the lines in this regard is the effort, with remarkable success, to eradicate deaths due to unsafe abortions in a country where the decriminalization of this practice is still pending. Montevideo, Jan 22 (EFE) – A 14-year-old girl died during a legal abortion procedure in Uruguay last December, according to feminist groups denounced Friday and confirmed to the EF±E authorities of the National Health Administration (ASSE), which is investigating the fact. The mortality rate in Uruguay, which is mainly related to pregnancy, childbirth, the puerperium and abortion, is the lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Cuba and Chile. However, experts consulted by IPS agree that beyond successes, we must not be complacent and are concerned that most deaths are preventable. The team`s actions are aimed at acting medically before and after the abortion and advising the woman to minimize damage to her health. With this in mind, Abracinskas said that “preparing employees for a harm prevention strategy is not the same as training the team to take care of abortion.
It would be fantastic if Parliament`s political decisions were more synergised with those of the executive on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health. Maternal mortality in Uruguay has risen from a stable average in the 90s of 2.3 per 10,000 pregnancies, or 13 deaths per year, to 1.5 per 10,000 in 2008, equivalent to seven deaths, a rate similar to that observed in the United States and some Western European countries. Before the IVE law, or abortion law, was passed in October 2012 under then-President Josã Mujica (2010-2015), his predecessor, Tabarã© Vázquez©, opposed the bill which, because he was a doctor©, argued that it put medical professionals in an unfair position. In 2001, unsafe abortions accounted for 28 per cent of maternity-related deaths and 47 per cent of deaths at the Pereira Rossell Public Hospital, the country`s main childcare and maternity centre. Among them, patients must go through a committee composed of a gynaecologist, a psychologist and a social worker who advises them on the risks of abortion and even on the possibility of terminating their pregnancy and giving the ± child up for adoption. EFE Between 2008 and 2011, for the first time in Uruguay`s history, no deaths due to clandestine abortion were recorded, bringing international recognition and several awards to the Uruguayan prevention system. In addition, the action programme has been copied by other hospitals in Latin America©. Despite the rejection of the deadline law in Argentina, where the Senate crushed the bill on Thursday, the Uruguayan protocol has been applied to the Buenos Aires Provincial Police since 2007 with the approval of the Ministry of Health. For example, in this region of Argentina, maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion fell from 32 to 11 between 2011 and 2014, according to a study by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Thus, they generalized the use of misoprostol, which is used to treat ulcers, but declared it an indispensable drug by the World Health Organization for its abortion-inducing properties that prevent bleeding. Uruguayan doctors©could not prescribe it, but explained how to use it and received women in their consultations during abortion. For Abracinskas, “it is clear that there must be a change in the legislation concerning abortion.” However, the implementation of the law allowing abortion in the first 12 weeks has not been a bed of roses in Uruguay. About 30% of the country`s doctors©have declared themselves conscientious objectors and refuse to participate in the procedure.
In Uruguay`s Ministries of the Interior, the figure is 40 per cent, which mainly affects women in rural areas. In the department of Salto, all gynaecologists and obstetricians declared themselves conscientious objectors and forced the Ministry of Health to send specialists from Montevideo to treat women who wished to have abortions. The Uruguayan law, whose debate and adoption process has been considered an example for several countries in the region, does not technically©legalize abortion, but decriminalizes it twelve weeks ago, provided that certain state-regulated procedures are followed. About 90% of women of reproductive age in Latin America©and the Caribbean live in countries with restrictive abortion laws. In six countries – Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua and Suriname – abortion is completely banned. Eight other states allow it almost exclusively to save a woman`s life, and only a few offer exceptions for rape (e.g. Brazil, Panama and Chile) and severe fetal abnormalities.