Managua, Nicaragua, Feb 23, 2010 / 13:05 pm
In an attempt to pressure officials in Nicaragua to legalize abortion, feminist groups are drawing attention to the dramatic case of a pregnant woman suffering from cancer, arguing that the only chance of survival for “Amelia,” the fictitious name given to the woman, is to undergo an abortion.
Pro-abortion feminist groups, who have not released any further details about “Amelia,” claim “therapeutic” abortion is her only option and that she is being denied the procedure. They have sent letters to the director of the Escuela Oscar Danilo Rosales Hospital in the city of Leon, where the woman resides, to the Minister of Health, to the justices of the Supreme Court and to Nicaragua’s president, demanding that abortion be legalized in the country.
Abortion supporters are led by Vilma Nunez, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights; Dr. Oscar Flores Vigil, president of the Nicaraguan Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics; Marta Maria Blandon, as well as other members of the “Strategic Group for the Legalization of Abortion.”
According to Carlos Polo, director of the Latin American Office for the Population Research Institute (PRI), this is another “fabricated” case created by the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. “Its obvious to anyone who follows these cases presented by abortion groups in recent years that the ‘urgency’ coincides perfectly with the political agenda of those supporting legalized abortion.”
Polo said that there have already been offers to help Amelia, “but feminists are keeping her isolated.”
“That they haven’t given many details about the clinical history of Amelia is telling. They have given a version of the story in which the only possible option for saving her life would be through abortion,” Polo said.
“Honest medical science sees it differently,” Polo continued. “Uptodate.com is a well-known medical information service and the information it offers on ovarian cancer treatment for a pregnant woman can be summarized as follows: In most cases of pregnant women with cancer, it is possible to treat the pregnant mother without seriously endangering the baby. It is rare that the womb needs to be removed in order to reduce the cancer if surgery is performed during pregnancy.”
“Finally,” Polo added, “ending pregnancy early does not improve the prognosis for ovarian cancer. It has been shown that ovarian cancer can be cured through chemotherapy ...”
In an attempt to clarify the confusion created by feminists in the manipulation of the case of “Amelia,” the Nicaraguan Medical Association issued a statement noting that “it has been scientifically shown that in cases of gynecological cancer, pregnancy does not influence either the progression or the spread of tumors. Based on the clinical stage of the cancer, there are different options for her treatment in Nicaragua.”
In the case of “Amelia,” Polo said, there is no reason to submit her to an abortion. Abortion will not cure her cancer.
“Is it a coincidence that all of the main players surrounding ‘Amelia’ all agree on the same point: ‘an abortion will save the life of the mother?' … You’d have to be pretty naïve or have a serious case of amnesia to think that,” Polo stated.
He concluded saying that PRI follows up on these “fabricated” cases “in which the misery of poor women in Latin America is used to further the political agendas of New York NGOs. The motto of the PRI is ‘Put people first,’ and we reject the manipulation of human suffering in the case of ‘Amelia’ and other similar ones.”