Abortion in Ecuador
Abortion in Ecuador is illegal except when performed in the case of a threat to the life or health of a pregnant woman (when this threat cannot be averted by other means) or when the pregnancy is the result of a sexual crime against a mentally disabled woman and her legal representative has consented.[1] The Ministry of Public Health provides guidelines on therapeutic abortion.
In Ecuador, there is strong political opposition to abortion; in 2013 then president Rafael Correa threatened to resign if the abortion law was liberalized.[2] As of 2015, nearly 100 criminal cases of illegal abortion were under investigation.[3]
In 2015, Ecuador was urged by CEDAW to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape and incest (under current law abortion in this case is legal only if the woman is mentally disabled) and severe fetal impairment (which is also illegal).[4]
See also
- Abortion
- Abortion by country
- Abortion law