Maira Verónica Figueroa Marroquín was released after her 30-year sentence for aggravated murder was reduced.

Abortion is banned in El Salvador, a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, in any circumstances.

Ms Figueroa always maintained her innocence. She said she suffered a stillbirth in a house where she was working as a maid in 2003.

She was taken to hospital, arrested and eventually sentenced for inducing an abortion.

Her parents, as well as journalists and activists, were outside the prison in Ilopango, near the capital San Salvador, to welcome her.

“I am happy to be with my family,” she said.

“I want to study law to understand what happened to me and help other women,” she added.

–

Source: BBC

The post Woman freed after 15 years in jail for abortion appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The girl is not aware that she has given birth. During her pregnancy she was told her bulge was because she had a big stone in her stomach.

The baby weighing 2.5kg (5.5lb) was delivered by Caesarean section in Chandigarh at 09:22 (03:52 GMT).

Both the mother and the newborn are doing fine, an official told the BBC.

The girl alleges she was raped several times in the past seven months by her uncle, who has been arrested.

Her pregnancy was discovered in mid-July when she complained of stomach ache and her parents took her to hospital.

A local court in Chandigarh turned down the abortion plea on the grounds that she was too far into her pregnancy after a doctors’ panel said that termination of the pregnancy would be “too risky”. Later, the Supreme Court also refused to allow an abortion for her on similar grounds.

Baby ‘to be put up for adoption’

As the baby has been born prematurely at 35 weeks, she has been placed in the neo-natal intensive care unit of the hospital where she will remain for the next few days, the BBC’s Geeta Pandey reports from Delhi.

The parents of the 10-year-old, who had said right from the start that they did not want to have anything to do with the baby, did not even look at the newborn, our correspondent adds.

The infant will be looked after by the child welfare committee until she is put up for adoption, an official said.

The 10-year-old is expected to remain in hospital for a week to 10 days.

The girl’s case has dominated headlines in India for the past several weeks, with officials saying this is the first-ever case of a child so young giving birth.

Indian law does not allow terminations after 20 weeks unless doctors certify that the mother’s life is in danger.

But in recent years, the courts have received several petitions, many from child rape survivors, seeking to terminate pregnancies after 20 weeks. In most cases, these pregnancies are discovered late because the children themselves are not aware of their condition.

Child welfare activists who interact with the 10-year-old on a regular basis say that is precisely what happened with her – the girl is very innocent and had no idea what had happened to her.

Her parents also missed the telltale signs of her pregnancy perhaps because she’s “a healthy, chubby child”. Besides, they couldn’t imagine that their daughter could be pregnant at 10.

–

Source: BBC

The post Indian rape victim, 10, gives birth by Caesarean section appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The man, identified as Godwin Dadzawa, 41, is said to have sexually abused the woman and extorted money from her.

The suspect, who claims to be a graduate nurse of the University of Ghana, is said to have been practising as an abortion specialist at Bukom.

The 22-year-old student, a resident of La, in Accra, is said to have reported to the police that she was allegedly locked up for four days by Dadzawa in his clinic where he aborted her one-month old pregnancy.

When a search was conducted on him, the police retrieved some accoutrements, including scissors and medical equipment, suspected to be used for the termination of pregnancies at the fake clinic.

They also found a bed suspected to be that on which abortions were carried out, shelves with medicines which also served as a dispensary, where victims could buy medicines off the counter.

Abortion
Briefing journalists, the La District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Oduro Aning, said the victim claimed she found out she was pregnant in December 2016 and decided to terminate the pregnancy since her boyfriend was not ready to take responsibility for it.

With the help of a friend, Mr Aning said, the victim got the contact of Dadzawa, who gave her the direction to his clinic through a mobile phone call.

However, the victim was unable to pay the charge of GH¢400 after the pregnancy was terminated and agreed with Dadzawa to deposit her iPad with him, while she tried to raise the amount to offset her bill.

Sexual abuse
When the victim finally managed to raise the money, she claimed numerous efforts to get Dadzawa to receive the money proved futile, as he gave excuses that he was either not in his clinic or he had travelled.

The victim is said to have spent the money only to receive a call from Dadzawa demanding the payment of her bill in exchange for the iPad she had deposited.

The victim claimed she told Dadzawa she did not have the money and asked for some grace period, but Dadzawa asked her to see him in his office for proper negotiation, to which she obliged.

At the clinic, Dadzawa is said to have told the victim to allow him to have sex with her in settlement of her bill after which he would give her the iPad.

After a back and forth negotiation between the two, the victim claimed she agreed to have sex with Dadzawa and they had three bouts of unprotected sex in a room at the clinic.

After that, the victim requested her iPad, but Dadzawa locked up the room and constantly had sex with her for four days without allowing her to take her bath. He, however bought food for her.

Dadzawa is said to have promised to give the victim GH¢400 in addition to her iPad but after the fourth day, she started bleeding, compelling him to release her without fulfilling his promise.

Blackmail
When the police visited the said clinic, residents of Chorkor Lantey Maami thronged the place, with some hooting at the suspected fake doctor when he was brought out of a police van in handcuffs.

Some of the residents claimed Dadzawa, who was popularly referred to as doctor, had been known as a practising medical doctor who attended to the medical needs of people in the area.

During interrogation, Dadzawa is reported to have told the police that he was being blackmailed by the young woman.

Although he admitted he was not a doctor, he claimed the woman at the centre of the case was his girlfriend who wanted to blackmail him because he could not meet her financial demands.

–

Source: Graphic Online

The post ‘Fake’ abortion doctor arrested at Chorkor appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The report said the figure represented 12.7 percent of 9,612 cases of unsafe abortion recorded in the country within the period.

[contextly_sidebar id=”XfpKdy0ZVc8zBcnfhM30CAwjIeesHrmq”]Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), an anti-corruption media advocacy Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), made this known in Sunyani on Tuesday.

Addressing a news conference to announce the outcome of a safe abortion project his NGO was implementing in the region, Mr Ahenu observed with regret the increasing trend of teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion in the country.

He said 110,000 adolescent girls in 352 basic schools across the country got pregnant in 2016 adding that out of the figure, the Brong-Ahafo Region alone recorded 12,112 cases in 38 basic schools.

Mr Ahenu said there is the need for adolescent people to easily access safe abortion services at public health facilities to lower the high unsafe abortion rates which contributes to maternal deaths in the country.

He called for a national policy guideline for the distribution of condoms in all public places and gatherings to ensure easy access.

Mr Ahenu said when the stigma attached to the use of condoms and other family planning methods such as pills, are addressed, teenagers who could not control their sexual desires would feel at ease and demand for the services.

He said easy access to HIV testing and counseling as well as stronger subsequent links to HIV treatment services for those who test HIV positive were also needed.

Mr Ahenu said alcoholism and drug abuse were major driving force which pushed teenagers into promiscuous lives and called for a realistic national policy to control alcoholism among adolescent people.

He said availability, accessibility and acceptability are the key obstacles that adolescent people face in accessing contraceptives.

Mr Ahenu said there is an urgent need to intensify the education campaign on the use of contraceptives and family planning services especially in basic schools to save the lives of pregnant girls and their unborn babies.

“We can no longer postpone sexual education among adolescent people because they are actively engaging in sex”, he said.

–

Source: GNA

The post B/A recorded 1,224 unsafe abortion cases in 2016 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It continues a special dispensation granted last year for the duration of the Year of Mercy, which finished Sunday.
“I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life. In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father,” the letter states.

“May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation,” the letter continues.

“I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion.”

‘Moral evil’
The Catholic Church has long held that abortion is a grave “moral evil,” with the Church’s strong position on the issue driving many Catholic pro-life groups.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that every human life “from the moment of conception until death is sacred” — and that any Catholic who procures an abortion incurs automatic excommunication, a penalty that often only a bishop can lift.

But Pope Francis announced a shift last year when he said that priests around the world would be authorized to forgive the “sin of abortion” for the duration of the Church’s Year of Mercy, which ran from December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016.

“The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented,” he said at the time, expressing sympathy for women who had been through the “agonizing and painful” decision to terminate their pregnancy.
In some regions, such as in the US, many priests already had the power to forgive abortion. Vatican officials described the announcement last year as “a widening of the church’s mercy.”

Church officials had indicated at the time that it was possible that Pope Francis would opt to allow the changed policy to continue in perpetuity, as he has now done.

The Year of Mercy is a period during which believers may receive special indulgences for their sins.

Pope Francis has forged a more forgiving, merciful direction for the Church since his papacy began in March 2013, taking a more welcoming position toward groups that had previously found themselves on the margins of the Catholic establishment, such as gays and lesbians, and divorced Catholics.

–

Source: CNN

The post Pope extends Catholic priests’ right to forgive abortion appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.