Guatemala triples length of jail sentence for abortion

WOMEN in Guatemala face spending a decade behind bars if they choose to have an abortion, under legislation approved by the country’s conservative-led Congress.

The “life and family protection law” will more than triple the current prison sentence imposed on a woman who has an abortion, from three to 10 years. It also bans same-sex marriages and any initiatives teaching sexual diversity.

The bill, passed on International Women’s Day, comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) published guidelines calling for the wider use of termination pills and the removal of “unnecessary policy barriers to safe abortion”.

The WHO warned that 39,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions, while millions more end up in hospital with complications.

“It’s vital that an abortion is safe in medical terms,” Dr Bela Ganatra, head of the WHO’S prevention of unsafe abortion unit, said yesterday.

“No one should be exposed to abuse or harms like being reported to the police or put in jail because they have sought or provided abortion care.”

The bill in Guatemala, where abortion is only authorised in the event of a threat to the mother’s life, will come into law once it is signed by Alejandro Giammattei, the country’s president. He is a conservative physician who is opposed to same-sex marriage as well as abortion. Although same-sex marriage has never been recognised in Guatemala, the latest bill will also reform its Civil Code to “expressly prohibit” it.

Public and private teaching initiatives handling the issue of sexual diversity will also be outlawed.