“El Salvador And ‘Las 17’”
An acknowledged journalist and author, Erika Guevara- Rosas in her article for the New York Times paper, “El Salvador And ‘Las 17’”, justifies the intense and altering consequences women are put in jail for having miscarriages and abortions. Rosas’ main drive is to enlighten her readers on the prejudice that is occurring in El Salvador where all abortions are forbidden including “when the mother’s life or well-being is in danger, and in all incidents of rape” (Rosas). “Carmen Guadalupe Vásquez Aldana was just 18 when, in 2008, she was sentenced to 30 years in jail” (Rosas). Her crime was for having a miscarriage. February of 2015, Vasquez was finally released after being incarcerated for almost a decade. She
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Rosas logical appeal to the readers is supported by “Women and girls cannot access an abortion even if continuing their pregnancy will kill them, or if their fetuses are not viable” (Rosas). She goes on and catches the viewers’ attention by saying that, “Those who defy the law and seek unsafe, clandestine abortions face horrifying consequences” (Rosas).
“El Salvador is extremely strict when it comes down to enforcing the conservative approach with governing the people” (Rosas). “A constitutional amendment in 1998 defined life to begin at conception” (Geneva). Rosas says that the main spark that lead up to the prohibition was recovering from the civil war. Abortion is not only a problem in El Salvador but a problem worldwide. But the injustice in El Salvador is where the major troubles spread. “El Salvador is extremely conservative, and the Catholic Church’s influence extends into political decision making” (Rosas). The women undoubtedly have no say whatsoever. Instead, the government and laws overpower their opinions. She appeals to her audience by bringing up the topic that any free society should be considered to the physical right of the woman. Women and young girls in El Salvador are being forced to interact in sexual activities by men, yet the Catholic Church thinks elsewise. Nowhere does the law state anything about miscarriages or abortions, yet women are still convicted and imprisoned for these
Today’s violence in El Salvador consists of ruthless gang members. According to CRS (Congressional Research Service) about 30,000 kids have joined the maras and it will continue to increase. Due to the gang violence, children are fleeing the country to prevent from becoming victims or recruited, furthermore families are streaming into the U.S to seek asylum. Alike today, El Salvador experienced the same immigration crisis back in 1980 when the civil war was the cause for Salvadorans to immigrate to the United Sates. Repression and violation of human rights was the root cause, now gang violence is the root cause striking a similar pattern of the effects of violence. In 1980, El Salvador’s right-wing government had death squads to kill citizens for suspicion of supporting a social reform. Military soldiers attacked many villages, including El Mozote in which men, women, and children were tortured and subjected to sexual violence.
Latin America is one region of the world known for its similarities across national borders, paired with stark differences. While Latin American countries share cultural elements such as, language, religion, and a colonial history, each society has developed differently in terms of political, economic, and social organization. One major difference across Latin America is individual nations relationships with family planning and abortion systems. Each country 's stance on the morality of abortion, contraception, reproduction, and sexuality, differs from its neighbors and the region at large. In some cases the difference is visible within national borders, such as in Mexico, where abortion is only legal inside the capital city (Fondo Maria). In other cases the countries themselves are homogenous in law, but differ greatly from the legal positions of their neighbors. Due to such variation it is impossible to claim that Latin America as a whole aligns with one attitude concerning family planning and abortion. Additionally, both systems are simultaneously present in countries creating a complex and intriguing system of reproductive health. Due to this variety, this paper focuses on Chile and Cuba as examples of two opposing extremes. In Cuba abortion is legal under all circumstances as compared to Chile, where abortion was historically criminalized. These two country 's situations ask the question of how family planning programs and abortion rates connect with and influence one
68-92). Andaya (2014) uses quotes from participants to explain the Cuban narrative of abortion (pp. 80-82). There seems to be a double narrative that is taking place during discussions surrounding abortion. One narrative designates women who keep unintended pregnancies as “undisciplined” (Pg. 82). Women are shamed for conceiving often, especially if they are of a lower class. On the other hand, there is a counter narrative which shames women who have had multiple abortions (Pg. 68). This shaming is disguised a concern for women’s health and fertility, where Andaya (2014) writes “The state holds that abortion is a public health problem…in 2004, 11 of the 54 maternal mortalities were abortion related (Acosta 2006)” in which Cuba has “linked” abortion to maternal mortality. Furthermore, Andaya (2014) also writes “…in 2009, more than half of the cases of female infertility among young women were thought
The debate about abortion focuses on two issues; 1.) Whether the human fetus has the right to life, and, if so, 2.) Whether the rights of the mother override the rights of the fetus. The two ethicists who present strong arguments for their position, and who I am further going to discuss are that of Don Marquis and Judith Thomson. Marquis' "Future Like Ours" (FLO) theory represents his main argument, whereas, Thomson uses analogies to influence the reader of her point of view. Each argument contains strengths and weaknesses, and the point of this paper is to show you that Marquis presents a more sound argument against abortion than Thomson presents for it. An in depth overview of both arguments will be
The youth interviewed by the scholars in Los Angeles and the film, El Norte by Gregory Nava, have some similarities that can be discussed between the two, in the article one of the interviewed Mario came from El Salvador to America because as a child he grew up in time of war in El Salvador. In El Salvador Mario saw nothing but dead bodies as a child, later his father’s death by assassination, and later Mario was taken into the Guerilla forces at the age of only ten. As a consequence of the amount of violence Mario witnessed he later suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As for the film El Norte, Rosa and Enrique faced the same fate one day living a normal life the other their father was beheaded for conspiring, resulting in
Her baby did not survive so she was convicted of aggravated homicide. The punishment is a 30- year prison sentence. It is sad to think that a doctor trying to help a poor woman who is pregnant, not by choice, will be put behind bars, but not the man who left her that way. There should be a simple solution to the violence against women in El Salvador; if they all flee the country then they will not have to experience any harm. That would be a solution, but packing up and leaving your home is more difficult than it may seem.
In Judith Jarvis Thompson’s article “A Defense of Abortion” she explores the different arguments against abortion presented by Pro –Life activists, and then attempts to refute these notions using different analogies or made up “for instances” to help argue her point that women do have the right to get an abortion. She explains why abortion is morally permissible using different circumstances of becoming pregnant, such as rape or unplanned pregnancy.
She discusses that if it is morally wrong to kill the fetus, then the use of contraceptives to stop conception is quite immoral since it stops a potential from being formed. She concludes this argument by stating that many abortions’ opponents are never ready to subscribe
While Latin America’s lack of reproductive rights would seem to be common knowledge, many are unaware of how exactly women in Latin American countries are affected. In a fairly large number of countries, abortion is illegal. In regards to this, “in 2008, 12 percent of maternal deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean were due to unsafe abortions.” (Mane, 2013) 95% of the abortions
Jasmine Garsd, reporter for Npr.og, reports on abortion rights, but more specifically, vis-à-vis the Zika virus plaguing Latin America. She is especially interested in the United States’ role in providing or denying aid to countries such as Brazil, where the Zika virus has proved threatening to the general population. What complicates the situation further is that the Zika virus is particularly harmful to pregnant mothers and their unborn babies. In fact, the Zika virus has been linked to certain birth defects such as brain damage and small heads. Hence, the emergence of the Zika virus adds another dimension to the abortion debate.
Abortion is an issue that can go both ways and a topic that is very controversial. Is a fetus a human? Does its life matter? Or it wasn’t supposed to happen to me or I was raped. Many people can think of abortion as a good and bad thing, it just depends on what the person’s intuition about abortion is. I decided to go with the topic over abortion because I feel it is a broad topic and can go two ways as in being defensive or immortal. During this topic over abortion I will be including two articles, “A Defense of Abortion” and “Why Abortion Is Immoral”. These articles will explain the difference in how they think abortion can be taken. For instance, the first article will talk about why Judith argues why abortion is not too bad to be allowed
In life, there will be difficult decisions that a woman must make, sometimes this includes issues such as pregnancy and abortion. Originally thought to be a place for a woman and her doctor, politics has found a way to intervene. This is reproductive rights legislation, in which there are rules concerning abortion and often barriers such as a wait time and mandatory delays. I will be discussing the history of reproductive rights legislation. The aspect of reproductive rights legislation in particular I will be exploring is abortion. I will highlight why abortion is important to society and discuss my personal opinion of why I am passionate about this issue. I will delve into the key concepts of abortion which include pro-life and pro-choice
“Excessive restrictions stigmatize women seeking abortions and discriminate against those who lack the knowledge and understanding of legal grounds for abortion and vulnerable groups, such as poor and rural women and girls” (Finer). Abortion is commonly known as a murderous crime in which a mother chooses to terminate her child, but I do not view abortion that way. Abortion is when a mother determines that she is not capable to raise a child at the moment. I believe that tougher abortion laws should not be passed because it should be a women’s basic right to her own body, also, many women do not have the financial resources it takes to raise a child, and either way women will still seek illegal ways to get an abortion with risky outcomes
Before women had rights to decide whether they could keep their baby, some states didn’t allow abortion, therefore requiring women to give birth to their child. In today’s current issues, abortion is still a controversial subject with millions of people supporting it or not supporting it. Every woman has the right to make changes to her own physical body, and those rights should not be taken away, according to the constitution. In the very famous case in 1973, “Roe v. Wade”, the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. In the article, “Roe’s Pro-Life Legacy”, it is explained how after this movement, the right to abortion, lives have changed and led to lower abortion rates (Sheilds 2013.)
The movie gives real life examples to a situation where a woman is considering abortion by showing the audience the true hardships pregnancy in poverty. This message differs from other pro-life media messages that only claim the falseness of abortions, but do not support it with an example. This message does not say, abortion is bad or you are killing a person, however, it gives the audience a clear example of the hardships of having a baby in a difficult situation and matches it with the happiness of the gift of life. The movie highlights the inhumanity of abortion indirectly, referring to it as “getting it taken care of”, not as inhumane without an example of its inhumanity. Additionally, The movie shows Jose’s love for children and his selfless acts of playing with the children, giving them a soccer ball, and adopting the child.