Women fight back on reproductive rights in Nicaragua

[eridani]

http://www.truthout.org/article/nicaragua-the-womens-movement-is-opposition

The action taken on abortion by the governing Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in Nicaragua is "a betrayal" of women, who were "key allies" of the 1979 revolution. Therefore there has been a "radicalisation of the women's movement," which is declaring itself in opposition, activist Sofia Montenegro told IPS.

In the past few months, members of Nicaraguan non-governmental organisations have accused the government of President Daniel Ortega of persecution and threats against them, including nine women's rights activists who face criminal charges as accomplices in the abortion undergone by "Rosita," a nine-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather in 2003.

The charges are unfounded, because at that time therapeutic abortion was legal, said Montenegro, the political coordinator of the Nicaraguan Autonomous Women's Movement.

Women's organisations are fighting for the repeal of the October 2006 law that criminalised therapeutic abortion, said Montenegro, a former FSLN member who is one of the country's leading women's rights activists.