Carlos Sánchez, a renowned comedian from the Dominican Republic, held a birthday cake in his hands but instead of celebrating his own birth, he was using the cake to mourn the needless loss of 25-year-old Winifer Núñez Beato. In a video posted on Instagram, Sánchez recounted how Beato tragically passed away in 2021 due to complications from her high-risk pregnancy. Unable to intervene because of the nation’s stringent abortion ban, doctors could only watch. Beato left behind a bereaved husband and a young daughter, their lives forever impacted by a law that prioritized the pregnancy over a woman’s existence.
More than just one man’s protest, Sánchez is part of a larger movement of artists and activists in the Dominican Republic, all pushing against the continued ban on abortion. This collective is intent on rewriting the new penal code, which reaffirms the total prohibition of abortion. A host of these figures are leveraging their social media clout to bring wider attention to the fatal circumstances surrounding pregnancies that have resulted from this draconian legislation.
One such figure is Techy Fatule, a famed singer-cum-actress, who narrates the chilling tale of Damaris Mejia through her Instagram account. Mejia, grappling with a high fever, sought help from three different hospitals to no avail. Despite expressing uncomfortably high levels of pain, she was discharged with nothing more than painkillers which proved fatally insufficient. Fatule alleges that Mejia’s life could have been saved had the ban not prevented doctors from intervening.
The Dominican Republic is deeply rooted in its conservative and religious values, symbolized by the incorporation of the Bible into its national flag. The country’s abortion ban has overwhelming support from both the Catholic Church and various evangelical factions. Despite the traditional religious views held widely across the nation, a collective of Christian women, who formed the Alianza Cristiana Dominicana in 2017, seek to pioneer change in this rigid perspective.
The Alianza Cristiana Dominicana vehemently pushes for a revised penal code which includes the ‘tres causales’. This term, commonly used across Latin America, refers to three specific exceptional circumstances that justify terminating a pregnancy: risk to the woman’s life, incidence of rape or incest, and pregnancies where serious fetal impairments render life outside the womb impossible.
The introduction of the ‘tres causales’ exceptions could draw the Dominican Republic in line with several other Latin American countries that have eased their absolute abortion bans. The Alianza Cristiana Dominicana has joined forces with notable artists in the country to spread these tragic narratives, and in doing so, underline the necessity for change.
The urgency of this situation is stark. Just this year, 100 maternal deaths have been recorded in the Dominican Republic – deaths which campaigners such as Natalia Mármol believe could have been avoided if abortion were legal. Mármol, who acts as a spokeswoman for the Coalition for Women’s Lives and Rights, makes a strong case for the essentialness of this battle to ensure basic safeguards for life, health, and dignity for all girls and women.
The peril that expecting women face due to the existing abortion ban is not merely academic. Rather, it is the somber reality for a 13 or 15-year-old girl who has become pregnant as a result of rape, or a woman carrying a fetus that is not viable. Mármol stresses the fundamental need for minimal protections to prevent the needless loss of female life, emphasizing that the decision to continue with such pregnancies should rest with the women themselves.
The issue of abortion runs deep in the Dominican Republic’s legislative history. Attempts to reform the penal code, which had been solidifying these anti-abortion laws since 1884, have consistently hit dead ends. With the new version of the penal code passed into law by President Luis Abinader, the issue has once again been thrusted into the limelight.
Although President Abinader had been supportive of amendments to the abortion ban during his campaign, his stance appeared to change once he secured re-election. Upon the penal code being approved, Abinader deflected criticism by stating that while the code is not ideal, it is the best under the present circumstances. He subtly justifies it as a necessary upgrade from the previous 1884 legislation.
Mármol commended the new penal code for incorporating certain suggestions by the Coalition for Women’s Lives and Rights. These include defining femicide, the intentional murder of women or girls, as a specific crime and increasing the rigor of punishment for sexual assault. However, she pointed out that the new laws will not be enacted until August 2026, giving them ample time to push for the inclusion of the three exceptions they so passionately advocate.
Over the years, collective efforts by Coalition for the Life and Rights of Women and alike groups to embed these three exceptions in the law have been rigorous and persistent. In 2021, advocates set up a camp outside the National Palace as a form of peaceful protest, pressuring the parliament to listen to their pleas for policy adaptations.
In the eyes of the law, women in the Dominican Republic bear the brunt of the hardline stance on abortion. The current legal framework punishes women who seek abortions with jail terms of up to two years. Moreover, the medical professionals who help terminate a pregnancy can endure sterner sentences that range from five to 20 years’ incarceration.
Outside of the Dominican Republic, other countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean regions also maintain similar rigid prohibitions on abortions. These nations include Haiti, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Despite these more conservative countries, the broader region generally permits abortion but under restrained conditions.
Renowned Caribbean-pop singer and songwriter, Isabel de Dios, has lent her voice to this ongoing fight for women’s rights. Being a long-time feminist activist, she has frequently participated in demonstrations and protests for the cause over her career. In her maiden song ‘Colonizado’, she critiques societal expectations and apathy towards critical issues.
De Dios has voiced her criticism against the current penal code, deeming it ‘crazy’, ‘dictatorial’, and ‘feudal’. Her poignant question, ‘What kind of society are we constructing?’ calls for a collective introspection on the impacts of such stringent laws on the women of the Dominican Republic and the society as a whole.
The post Dominican Republic’s Draconian Abortion Laws Draw Criticism from Activists appeared first on Real News Now.
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