NEW YORK—The Center for Reproductive Rights, the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM) and the Counseling Center for the Defense of Women's Rights (DEMUS) recently filed a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on behalf of a young Peruvian woman who was compelled by state officials to carry an anencephalic fetus to term. The pregnancy severely compromised the woman’s life, physical and psychological health. To date the UNHRC, which oversees governments’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), has received very few cases involving violations of women’s human rights. "We hope the UN Human Rights Committee will recognize that Peruvian public health officials failed to comply with their own laws in denying this young woman the right to terminate a pregnancy she was legally entitled to terminate," said Luisa Cabal, the Center for Reproductive Rights’ legal adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean. "The nightmare this woman lived through is not uncommon in Latin America, where for low-income women, violations of their rights to health and to be free from such cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment happen far too often," added Cabal.
The Peruvian woman was 17 years old and fourteen weeks pregnant when doctors at a public hospital in Lima diagnosed the fetus with anencephaly, a fatal anomaly where the fetus lacks most or all of a forebrain. After much soul-searching, the woman decided to have an abortion but was denied access to the procedure by the public hospital’s director. On January 13, 2002, the woman gave birth to the anencephalic infant. She was then forced to breast feed the newborn for four days before its inevitable death.
In Peru abortion is legal for therapeutic reasons. However, because Peru has failed to adopt clear regulations, women whose health is endangered by such pregnancies are left at the mercy of particular public officials. In this case, despite clear medical standards to the contrary, the hospital’s director determined that the woman’s case did not fit the therapeutic exception and refused to permit her to have the procedure. The complaint filed asserts that the final half of her pregnancy was a clear violation of international standards prohibiting violence against women, as well as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by state officials.
The Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners are asking the UNHRC to find that Peru violated the petitioner’s rights and recommend that the government compensate her for her severe suffering. In addition, they are recommending that Peru adopt clear regulations to ensure that women seeking to terminate a pregnancy pursuant to Peruvian law are able to promptly access safe abortion services.
Peru recognizes the UNHRC’s authority to examine individual complaints, determine whether violations of the ICCPR occurred, and suggest remedies for cases that have not been effectively resolved in that country.
