Photo by Rafael Idrovo Espinoza
At WIDE+ we fully support every woman’s right to make the right choice for their bodies. We would like to express our solidarity with and support of the feminist movement in the Dominican Republic in their fight toward a more just reproductive world. As feminists, we consider safe abortion to be a human right and we are joining the appeal to end the total ban on abortion in the Dominican Republic immediately.
Feminists have been demanding an end to the total abortion ban that has been there for the last 137 years. With green as the representative colour of the Latin American reproductive rights wave, feminists of the Dominican Republic have taken to the streets and expressed the need for greater abortion access.
The total abortion ban in the Dominican Republic currently threatens a woman getting an abortion with a possible sentence of 2 years in prison, while the provider might end up being imprisoned for up to 20 years. This puts the actual lives of women at stake, with thousands of clandestine abortions being performed in the country every year. The message of the feminist movement in the Dominican Republic is one that has echoed within reproductive rights circles for many, many years – illegal abortion does not mean abortions don’t occur. They happen and they happen often, however, as illegal and underground abortions without regulation, this means that women face more risks, more danger, and ultimately, more deaths.