Abortion in the Dominican Republic

Abortion in the Dominican Republic has been prohibited since September 18, 2009, when a constitutional amendment declaring the right to life as "inviolable from conception until death" was approved in Congress by a majority vote of 128 to 34. Up until October 2012, women could come forward for treatment without fear of being arrested. Dr. Milton Cordero has been working since 1980 in the republic's public hospitals, treating women who have abortions: he estimates that there are 90,000 illegal abortions per year. These illegal abortions are self-induced or done by a back-alley practitioner. Since the law was passed, abortion has risen to the third leading cause of maternal death in the country.

A common abortion method is to take over-the-counter pills that cause powerful uterine contractions, leading to the expulsion of the fetus. Drugs used include , prostaglandins, or ergot alkaloids. Women take the pills without knowing the proper dosage, and an overdose can cause serious hemorrhaging. Poor women suffering from hemorrhages go to inexpensive and low-quality clinics. The uterus may be incompletely cleaned out, leading to infection, or even perforated, causing internal bleeding. If a woman survives such complications, she may have reproductive problems in the future. Researchers have found that 95% - 97% of the abortions are unsafe, meaning done by people lacking needed skills or in places that don't meet minimal medical standards. (See Unsafe abortion.)

Women who appear at hospitals for post-abortion treatment can not name their practitioner, who would be arrested if caught.

A new program to add incentive for using contraceptives is designed to give students an idea of the workload involved in caring for a newborn baby. Called “Bebé, Piénsalo Bien” the program was sponsored by The Dominican Republic’s First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández. In May 2006 as a pilot program was launched at one school in Santo Domingo. The project lends electronic babies to students for a weekend. The program also urges parents to talk about pregnancy and child-rearing with their children.

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