Victims of Belief-based Denial
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Denise (2016) – Northern Ireland
Denise Phelan was denied a legal abortion in circumstances so extreme she still finds it harrowing to speak about it. “My anger wakes me up at night. It’s a deep, almost in-the-bone anger,” she says. She and her husband, Richard Gosnold, are also still grieving for the loss of their baby, Alenja. Their trauma has […]
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Leticia (2019) – Argentina
Woman pregnant from rape denied abortion, does self-abortion and almost bleeds to death because treatment delayed due to judgment In September 2019, Leticia H. (a pseudonym), 19, went to a public hospital in northern Argentina to end a pregnancy caused by rape. She was 17 weeks pregnant. The hospital denied the abortion, citing an informal […]
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Lucia (2019) – Argentina
11-year old rape victim denied abortion and forced to give birth by C-section “Lucia”, an 11-year-old victim of rape by her grandmother’s 65-year old partner was forced to gave birth in the province of Tucumán, Argentina on Feb 26, 2019, after she was denied an abortion by authorities and doctors for nearly five weeks. Lucia […]
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Chelsea (2018) – USA
Woman with serious health risks and lethal fetal abnormality denied abortion at hospital because she wasn’t sick enough In December 2018, Chelsea was about 15 weeks into a planned pregnancy when a specialist at University of Cincinnati Medical Center told her that her fetus had triploidy, a condition where three sets of chromosomes develop in […]
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Carmela (2018) – Argentina
Woman with anencephalic pregnancy denied abortion with forced birth at 7 months gestation In November 2018, Carmela Toledo, 23, found out that she was carrying a fetus with anencephaly, a condition that makes it difficult for the fetus to survive. Carmela was 25 weeks pregnant. She went to a public hospital in Buenos Aires province […]
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Anonymous (likely 2018) – Chile
A woman with serious health risks was denied a legal abortion, then forced to have a C-section when her health deteriorated dangerously. In a study that explored the experiences of four pregnant people who were legally entitled to but denied access to legal abortion in Chile, one participant was clearly denied abortion due to belief-based […]
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Dr. Ralph’s patient (2017) – USA
Miscarrying woman refused termination, forced to get very sick and suffer through prolonged labour In early 2017, a woman arrived at Wheaton Franciscan-St. Joseph hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in labour. She was 18 weeks pregnant with twins. She miscarried one fetus within hours of admission, but the second still had a heartbeat. Because the hospital […]
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Anonymous (2017) – Argentina
Doctor obstructs legal abortion in Argentina, ruin’s young woman’s life In 2017, a 19-year old woman in Argentina requested an abortion due to rape and was admitted to hospital with contractions. The physician gave her a number of medicines without her consent, which stopped the contractions. He admitted her to the mental health unit where […]
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Andrea (2017) – Costa Rica
Young incest victim forced to give birth to her father’s child Andrea was a pregnant victim of incest at 12 years old. In February 2017, her mother went public about the sexual violence Andrea had suffered from her father. “After she told me about what happened with her father, she became extremely anxious and told […]
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Valentina Milluzzo † (2016) – Italy
In October 2016, Valentina Milluzzo of Italy, 32, was miscarrying much-wanted twins at 19 weeks of pregnancy. But she died in the Cannizzaro Hospital in Catania Sicily after being denied an abortion, despite no hope for survival of her twins. She became septic and suffered hours of agony while sepsis destroyed her organs. A doctor […]