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News > Latin America

Mexico Accused of Persecuting 'Innocent' Women Who Miscarry

  • Dafne McPherson, sentenced to 16 years for murder after she suffered a miscarriage in Mexico.

    Dafne McPherson, sentenced to 16 years for murder after she suffered a miscarriage in Mexico. | Photo: YouTube - Excelsior TV

Published 8 November 2017
Opinion

There is a growing trend in criminalizing women who have miscarriages or complicated childbirths by accusing them of intentionally inducing abortion.

Mexican prosecutors who jail women after they have suffered miscarriages have been condemned by women's rights activists for persecuting "innocent" mothers.

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Convicted of the crime of "homicide against a relative," such women - mostly poor and uneducated - face sentences of anything up to 35 years in prison.

Activists argue that the tactic, common in conservative states, amounts to overzealous enforcement of bans on elective abortion, according to the Associated Press.

In September, seven women sentenced for the deaths of their newborns were finally freed after legal reforms in the state of Guanajuato reduced their sentences, which were up to 29 years.

"They are innocent, they all suffered miscarriages," women's rights activist Veronica Cruz, who championed their cases, told the Associated Press.

But state prosecutors still maintain the trials were fair, and that the babies were born alive only to die later because of mistreatment or neglect.

Rather than being absolved, the women were released when the state government concluded the original sentences – which ranged from 25 to 35 years – "were inappropriate, given that they were excessively punitive."

The sentences were reduced to between three and eight years: the same amount of time the women had already served behind bars.

"The important thing was to have them freed," Cruz said. "They will talk and decide if they want to undertake any other action."

There is a growing trend in which Mexican prosecutors in conservative parts of the country are criminalizing women who have miscarriages or complicated childbirths by accusing them of intentionally inducing abortion, which remains illegal in much of the country.

Among the most widely reported cases is that of Dafne McPherson, who didn't even realize she was pregnant until she suffered a miscarriage in her workplace bathroom in the city of San Juan del Río.

Currently serving a 16-year sentence for murder, McPherson – single mother to a seven-year-old daughter – was found unconscious and bleeding heavily after unexpectedly going into labour, the Guardian reports.

"When they started investigating Dafne, it was as an abortion investigation, not a homicide case," said Karla Michel Salas, a human rights lawyer familiar with the case.

Abortion on demand in the first trimester is legal only in Mexico City, under a 2007 law which has sparked outrage among conservatives and pro-life groups alike.

The Yucatan Pro Network and The Center for Women's Studies have said that "homicide against a relative will never be a woman's right."

The two groups released a joint statement describing it as "worrisome that now a woman attacking the life of her child would be considered a non-serious crime, as long as she does it within 24 hours after it is born."

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