Citation:
Rape Victims as Criminals - Illegal Abortion after Rape in Ecuador. Human Rights Watch; 2013.
Abstract:
https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/08/23/rape-victims-criminals/illegal-abo...
Ecuadorian law imposes prison terms ranging from one to five years for women and girls who receive abortions. Medical professionals who provide them are subject to harsher penalties. The criminal code provides for only three exceptions to criminal punishment:
- in the case of a threat to the life of a pregnant woman, when the danger cannot be averted by other means
- in the case of a threat to the health of a pregnant woman, when the danger cannot be averted by other means or
- when the pregnancy is the result of a rape or statutory rape of a woman who is an “idiot or demented.” Ecuador’s laws do not allow other women or girls to seek abortion in the case of rape, this despite the fact that a 2011 nationwide government survey estimated that one out of four Ecuadorian women has been a victim of sexual violence.