Across the Americas, Abortion Rights Activists Threatened, Attacked and Harassed Amnesty International
go to original December 11, 2015

A report from Amnesty International released this month finds that scores of women promoting reproductive rights, contraception and sex education have been harassed, threatened or attacked. (AFP Photo/Gerry Penny)

Scores of women working to promote access to safe abortions, sex education, contraceptives and other sexual and reproductive rights across the Americas are falling victim to increasingly vicious smear campaigns and threats geared at halting any debate on the issues, said Amnesty International in a new report.

Amnesty has spoken to dozens of women human rights defenders across Latin America who have been subjected to public harassment, death threats and physical attacks because of their work. Public attacks have come from both private individuals and government representatives. These crimes are rarely investigated and those responsible almost never face the courts.

Amnesty International’s Americas director Erika Guevara Rosas said:

“Daring to speak about abortion and sex education in Latin America seems to be reason enough to be labelled a ´criminal’, a ‘murderer’, and even a ‘terrorist’. Unless governments step up in their responsibility to respect their work and protect these courageous human rights defenders, this situation will continue to deteriorate dangerously in the near future. “The relentless smear campaigns against women whose job is to promote the rights and wellbeing of all, shows the worst side of a region that claims it is advancing in terms of human rights.”

...In Yucatán, Mexico – where access to abortion services is legally allowed in certain circumstances - a brutal campaign against members of the only organisation providing safe and legal abortions forced the vast majority of staff to resign for fear of violent reprisals if they were identified as working in the clinic.

Read the rest at Amnesty International

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