therapeutic abortion

When Fernanda Garcia went to hospital with pain and bleeding after taking medication to end her pregnancy, a nurse threatened to report her and...

Thousands of women took to the streets across Latin America on Tuesday to demand abortion rights, a practice largely prohibited in the region.

The movement proposes that women can freely decide if they can have an abortion, up to the 14th week of gestation.

Costa Rica’s therapeutic abortion protocol is not a new law, nor does it reform any current laws.

"With this we seek to settle a historical debt with the women of this country. ... This decision is to save women's lives and protect their health." 

Therapeutic abortions have been permitted by Costa Rican law for almost five decades in instances when the pregnancy threatens the life of the pregnant woman.

“The technical norm is not an opening for free abortion nor does it extend the law," said Alejandra Acuña.

Many doctors fear performing a therapeutic abortion because of the lack of a protocol that establishes the procedures to follow

The marchers carried anti-abortion signs and implored that President Carlos Alvarado not sign a change to the Criminal Code.

Two women who were forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term want to prevent other women from suffering the same fate.