A report prepared by the Ombudsman's Office with support from Ipas Bolivia reveals that only 8% of 277 health care providers in 44 health centers nationwide who were consulted know in which cases the legal termination of pregnancy (ILE) is appropriate, which leads to violations of the rights of women, girls and adolescents, and recommends that the Plurinational Legislative Assembly pass a law that guarantees the exercise of these rights.

The Plurinational Constitutional Sentence SCP206/2014 of February 5 and the Technical Procedure for the Provision of Health Services (PTPSS), approved through RM 027/2015 of January 29, establishes that the legal termination of pregnancy proceeds in cases of rape, incest, statutory rape, when there are lethal malformations in the fetus or when the life and health of the woman is at risk.

The Ombudsman's Report, presented Monday by the Ombudsman, Nadia Cruz, and the Executive Director of Ipas Bolivia, Malena Morales Lara, includes the results of the verification of compliance with the Plurinational Constitutional Sentence 206/2014 and the application of the technical procedure for the legal termination of pregnancy in health services at the national level; it includes the reports required from different public institutions and the information collected during visits to health centers nationwide.

The investigation revealed a series of violations of women's human rights, especially their sexual and reproductive rights, showing that users who go to a health facility when they are pregnant as a result of rape and request a legal termination of pregnancy are repeatedly questioned by medical personnel about the decision they have made.

It was identified that, in most cases, health personnel try to persuade women to continue with an unwanted pregnancy or deny them the right to terminate it, situations that provoke anguish, pain, suffering and re-victimization in women, girls or adolescent victims of rape.

The ombudsman's office also found that the Plurinational Legislative Assembly did not enact a law guaranteeing the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights, as established in Article 66 of the Political Constitution of the State and in Resolution 5 of SCP 206/2014;It also evidenced that the Executive Branch does not prioritize or execute public educational and health policies aimed at the dissemination, protection and care of women's sexual and reproductive rights that can counteract and/or reduce mortality rates due to clandestine abortions; nor does it develop actions that protect children or education on sexual reproduction.

Source: The Ombudsman's Office

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