How the Threat of the Zika Virus Brings Abortion Rights Back Into Focus Parker Molloy - Upworthy
go to original February 5, 2016

A debate is raging in Brazil over the country's restrictive abortion laws against the background of an outbreak of the Zika virus. (Euronews)

In 2001, the UN declared that the ability to access abortions is a human right. It even awarded reparations to K.L., a Peruvian woman who was denied the right to an abortion after discovering her fetus had a fatal birth defect.

And late last year, the UN upheld the ruling.

Case closed, right? Abortion access for all!

Wrong.

A six-week-old baby born with microcephaly. The heads of babies born with microcephaly are significantly smaller than a healthy baby's. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

When you think of countries that violate their citizens' human rights, the U.S. probably isn't one of the first nations to come to mind. Sadly, however, when it comes to abortion, a lot of organizations and state leaders are trying to do just that. More than 43 years after the historic Roe v. Wade decision, efforts to end legal abortion are running full steam ahead, ranging from legislative actions to protests and rallies to even terrorist attacks.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, just four territories allow abortion without exception: Cuba, Guyana, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay. In Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Suriname, abortion is outlawed without exception. Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Dominica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Venezuela allow abortion only when it's required to save the life of the mother.

Why the focus on these countries? Because there's a new challenge facing these areas that's making the question of abortion that much more pressing: the Zika virus.

Read the rest at Upworthy

Related: Here's How Crazy It Was to Get an Abortion Before Roe v. Wade (The Huffington Post

Related: Latinas Living Near the Texas-Mexico Border More Likely to Try Self-Induced Abortion (Latina)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!