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 Reforms last year to amend the country's criminal code to allow
abortion in cases of rape, incest, a deformed fetus or when a
woman's life is in danger, were passed by congress and approved by
President Danilo Medina.
The reforms, a result of years of debate over the abortion ban in
the predominantly Catholic and socially conservative Caribbean
country, were set to take effect on Dec. 27.
But after an appeal by religious and conservative groups who said
the country's laws and constitution must protect the rights of an
unborn child at all costs, the court on Wednesday ruled changes to
the criminal code dating back to 1884 were unconstitutional.
"This decision takes women's and girls' human rights back to the
19th century," Erika Guevara, Americas director at Amnesty
International, said in a statement on Thursday.
"Its impact will be catastrophic for women and girls in the
Dominican Republic who will continue to be criminalized, stigmatized
and forced to seek out unsafe abortions because they are denied
access to safe and legal medical treatment."
Bishops from the country's influential Roman Catholic Church have
publicly criticized moves to overturn the abortion ban.
Rights groups say blanket bans on abortion are a leading cause of
maternal mortality because they force women to undergo dangerous
backstreet abortions.
Sergia Galvan, spokeswoman for local rights group, the Women and
Health Collective, said the court's decision "continues to place
Dominican women, even those who long to be mothers, in a dilemma -
to die or go to jail - when they require health services, such as
abortion".
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The Dominican Republic's absolute ban on abortion has led to more
than 90,000 unsafe abortions occurring in the country each year,
according to the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Rights.
Other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that completely
ban abortion with no explicit exceptions include Chile, El Salvador,
Suriname, Honduras and Nicaragua, according to the Center for
Reproductive Rights.
(Reporting by Anastasia Moloney, editing by Alisa Tang. Please
credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking,
corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
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