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Region urged to utilise Montevideo Consensus on health, reproductive issues

Published:Friday | August 18, 2023 | 12:05 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Women pass a sticker advertising abortion pills on a sidewalk in Johannesburg, Wednesday June 28, 2023. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to an abortion a year ago, it shook efforts to legalize and make abortions safer in Africa. Su
AP
Women pass a sticker advertising abortion pills on a sidewalk in Johannesburg, Wednesday June 28, 2023. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to an abortion a year ago, it shook efforts to legalize and make abortions safer in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest rate of unintended pregnancies, and 77 per cent of abortions are estimated to be unsafe.

Despite advancements, feminist organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean say much remains to be done to ensure that women across the region have access to safe and legal abortions as outlined in the Montevideo Consensus.

The consensus, which was signed by 38 governments from Latin America and the Caribbean 10 years ago, among other stipulations, aims to guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health services.

‘We need to remove abortion from the penal codes. Abortion must be recognised as a human rights and public-health issue, guaranteeing access to comprehensive, safe services,” declared Executive Director of the Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago Ava Rampersad.

“Sexual and reproductive health are human rights which are fundamental to our existence. We must guarantee access to contraceptives to all women in all their diversity regardless of their marital status, including minors. We must also ensure that policies have intercultural, inter-generational gender perspectives that are longterm and adequately resourced,” she said.

Currently, only six Latin American countries have made it legal to get an abortion on request. These include Cuba, starting in the 1960s, and Uruguay, since 2012.

Nine countries, mostly in Central America and the Caribbean, including Jamaica, prohibit the practice altogether, while in most other countries, abortions are permitted under certain circumstances. In countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, and St Kitts and Nevis, a woman is legally allowed to have an abortion to preserve her health, while in the case of Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica, abortions are allowed to save the woman’s life.

“We need to regulate conscientious objection so that it does not translate into barriers that go against human rights,” Rampersad declared.

SEXUAL DIVERSITY

Pamela Perez Redlac pointed to the discrimination of people in the region because of their sexual orientation as another issue that the signatories to the consensus need to address.

“We also recognise that sexual diversity in our context continues to be stigmatised and how can we guarantee the exercise of rights if we have no effective acknowledgement?” she asked.

Meanwhile, noting the setbacks that guarantee comprehensive sexual education, Rampersad advocated for countries within the region to utilise the consensus to address this.

“We need to recognise that the Montevideo Consensus is an ambitious starting point, but it is not impossible and we should continue to nurture the Montevideo Consensus to respond to the emerging population challenges including the post pandemic context where care is a central aspect,” she said.