Defending reproductive choice: Nicaragua and Chile.

After being raped, nine-year-old Rosita was not only left with sexually transmitted infections, she also became pregnant. But the reproductive capacity of this young Nicaraguan girl was important only for those insensitive to the issue of rights: the truly relevant aspects of Rosita's case were the sexual violence and abuse of which she was a victim and her urgent need to have access to therapeutic abortion services to protect her life. In addition, Rosita's case took on international implications because she lived in Costa Rica where her parents, who had immigrated from Nicaragua, worked as agricultural laborers.

The closed-minded moralistic position of both States--Costa Rica and Nicaragua--were astonishing. Through a range of pressure tactics and illegal wrangling, the governments of both countries first attempted to institutionalize Rosita in order to protect the potential child of this child. Next, they tried to prevent her from accessing the therapeutic abortion to which she was legally entitled, threatening to take custody from her parents if necessary. In all these actions, both States demonstrated fundamentalist positions that refused to recognize women's rights to make autonomous decisions regarding their own bodies.

This dramatic situation touched the heart of the women's movement in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the movement and its allies, an extraordinarily effective strategy was set in motion to rescue Rosita and her parents from an extremely vulnerable situation and allow them to return to Nicaragua where Rosita was able to have a safe and humane therapeutic abortion.

This section includes an interview with Marta Maria Blandon and Lorna Norori, Nicaraguan psychologists and members of Nicaragua's Red de Mujeres contra la Violencia (Network of Women Against Violence). Marta Maria and Lorna participated directly in the resolution of Rosita's case, which is emblematic of the struggle for the defense of women's human rights, the right to reproductive choice and the right to corporal and psychological integrity.

We also include information about the recent consolidation of the Mesa Feminista sobre Aborto (Feminist Working Group on Abortion) in Chile. In this country, women are absolutely prohibited from accessing legal abortions even when their lives or health is endangered. A bill currently before the Chilean Senate would toughen this already restrictive law in direct opposition to Chilean public opinion. Despite the stigmatization of abortion, a high percentage of both women and men in Chile support women's right to reproductive choice.