WIBW.com ran this Reuters story today detailing the tragic death of Olga Reyes 2 weeks after her wedding. Olga was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy and, out of fear of prosecution, there were no doctors willing to perform the medical procedure needed to save her life in time. She suffered for 4 days before sucumbing. International medical professionals agree that with an ectopic pregnancy the fetus is not viable and immediate surgery is the only route to insure the welfare of the mother.

Women’s rights groups, including physicians, have protested Congress and demanded an immediate repeal of the ban which does not make any allowances fof the life of the mother. Evangelicals and the Catholic church support the ban saying that medical advancements make it so that a mother’s life is never at risk. Not only is this an ignorant argument, it is dangerous. Like Reyes’ situation, there are times that no amount of medical assistance can save the mother and the child, a fact that is not disputed by the medical community.

The Catholic church is so much in favor of this deadly ban that they have organized over 300,000 protesters to refute the women’s rights groups. This story scares me on a number of levels, namely that that the Catholic church can deny facts and support something that is causing the loss of innocent women. Anti-choice activists are so set on assuring that women can’t control their own health, that they ignore and even manipulate the facts in order to support their stance.

Recently Pope Benedict XVI praised Nicaragua for enacting a total ban on abortions. This includes abortions for rape or incest and also abortions necessary to save the life of the mother. Since last November this ban on abortions has cost at least 80 lives according to women’s rights advocacy groups.

These are 80 young women who died because they did not have access to clean and safe abortion facilities when their lives depended on it. Jazmina Bojorge has the unfortunate distinction of being the first. She died due to complications in her pregnancy 36 hours after going to a hospital for fever and abdominal pains.

After her death Rev. Rolando Alvarez, spokesperson for the Managua archdiocese, has stated that the church will push lawmakers to clarify the ban to allow the saving of the mothers life. Since that time around 80 more women have died.

Here in America the ruling finding the “Partial-Birth” Abortion Ban unconstitutional was recently overturned. The Supreme Court ruled that a complete ban on Partial Birth abortions was indeed constitutional. The Act actually states that there is NEVER a time when this is a necessary procedure to save the life of the mother. Read the entire act here.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissent that the latest decision “tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists”.

While in itself the ban is a small step compared to the total ban that Nicaragua has, it is still a dangerous step along a very slippery and steep slope. The religious right simply will not rest as long as women are allowed to control their own reproductive rights.

Currently of the top candidates only the 3 Democrats expressed any concern over this bill. Obama, Edwards, and Clinton all came out strongly opposed to any reduction in women’s reproductive freedom. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani both flip flopped from prior documented pro-abortion stands to more religious-right-friendly anti-choice stands.

I believe that we have come to a time where we can trust women to make their own medical decisions. While we cannot help those poor women in Nicaragua we can remain diligent to prevent their misery and deaths from befalling any more innocent lives.

~ William ~

P.S. If anyone knows of an organization that is helping in Nicaragua please post it in the comments. I would love to throw them some free publicity and any help we can. Women of all countries should have the freedom to control their own bodies.