WUNRN
Women's Link Worldwide y La
Colectiva Mujer y Salud, Dominican Republic - July 15, 2013
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - ROSA HERNANDEZ
DEMANDS JUSTICE FOR THE DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER ESPERANCITA
Abortion Illegal in the Dominican
Republic - Esperancita Had Acute Leukemia and Was Denied Therapeutic Abortion
and Needed Disease Treatment.
Sixteen-year-old Esperancita died an
agonizing death because she was not provided the treatment she needed to save
her life due to her pregnancy. Her mother is fighting to keep cases such as
hers from happening again.
Santo Domingo, July 15, 2013-Rosa
Hernández has filed legal actions in the Dominican Republic represented by the
organizations Colectiva Mujer y Salud and Women’s Link Worldwide. She seeks
justice for her daughter’s death and wants steps taken to prevent similar cases
from happening.
Esperancita died amid a national debate about the right to an abortion in
August, 2012, due to the failure to provide her with appropriate treatment for
acute leukemia. She was diagnosed when she was seven weeks pregnant and because
abortion is completely banned in the
“No one can bring my
daughter back, but I cannot allow these things to happen without bringing to
light that what was done was wrong. Until this is recognized and there is
justice, there is no way to prevent another mother from living the experience I
endured trying to get someone to save my daughter,” said the
bereaved mother, who went on to note that Dominican society can no longer stand
by and allow another Esperancita to die.
Esperancita’s death joins the grim toll of girls and women worldwide who die
because of the lack of access to healthcare services they need to save their
lives, including therapeutic abortion. As seen recently in El Salvador in the
well-known case of Beatriz, states would too often rather sacrifice the health
and lives of pregnant women and girls in order to protect human life in
gestation, failing to recognize that the latter depends completely on the
woman’s body and therefore on her good health.
For more information:
Colectiva Mujer y Salud – Dominican Republic
Telephone: +1 809 682 3128
E-Mail: ciudadaniaactivadelasmujeres@gmail.com
Cristina Sánchez Velázquez - Spain
Telephone: +34 669 464 490
E-Mail: c.sanchez@womenslinkworldwide.org
Jorge Bravo Santana - Colombia
Telephone: +57 301 550 7330
E-Mail: j.bravo@womenslinkworldwide.org