UN Committee: Abortion Is A Basic Human Right, But This Is Inhumane

After 15 years, Peru compensated a woman known as “K.L.” because of the way the country treated her while she was pregnant – a Peruvian doctor refused to allow K.L. to have an abortion for medical reasons, which was legal in Peru for those reasons.

The woman, known as K.L. because of her wish to remain anonymous, was denied her legal right to choose to have an abortion – an act that the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, concluded in 2005 was a violation of K.L.’s rights. The U.N. also found that denying K.L.’s abortion also,

Violated several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.”

Specifically, the compensation Peru paid to K.L. covered the cruel and degrading treatment she suffered under the hospital’s care that the U.N. described as “inhuman.”

Devastating News While Pregnant

At the time, the 17-year-old K.L. received news from her doctor that the baby she was carrying had a rare disorder called anencephaly, which means that the fetus cannot form a brain – a condition that is lethal 100 percent of the time, according to the Center for Reproductive Justice.

At 14 weeks pregnant when she found out, had K.L. had an abortion at that time, it would have been a simple, and safe procedure. She requested an abortion for medical reasons, but the hospital’s medical director and doctor refused. The doctor’s refusal to allow K.L. to have what the U.N. called a “medically indicated” abortion was essentially a form of torture.

Giving Birth To A Funeral In Waiting

Instead, K.L. was forced to be pregnant against her wishes – she was simply a receptacle to carry a dying baby to term. During her time being pregnant, K.L. described the pregnancy after the diagnoses as,

“A cruel ‘extended funeral’ for her daughter, made even more distressing by seeing the baby’s marked deformities and knowing that she had no life expectancy.”

K.L. suffered through carrying the pregnancy to term, and delivered the baby. As expected, she did not have a fully formed brain. What’s worse was that K.L. was forced to breastfeed that baby for the four days it survived, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Denying Abortion Is Inhumane

Why did the hospital force K.L. to carry a dying fetus to term against her wishes? According to the Huffington Post, denying abortions despite their legality isn’t uncommon. While Peru has adopted abortion guidelines, safe abortion services are accessible by relatively few women and teens. This is despite the fact that while K.L. awaited the outcome of her case, a second case against Peru was won.

This unfortunate situation happened in 2001 in Peru, which unilaterally decided to usurp K.L.’s rights. Finally, after 15 years, Peru compensated K.L. for the suffering she endured. This not only brought a sense of closure to K.L., but the case also proves once and for all that the right to choose to have an abortion is indeed a basic human right worldwide.

After suffering the ordeal, K.L. filed a lawsuit at the U.N., with the help of human rights lawyers, and sued Peru. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, the outcome was the first time the U.N. found a country liable for restricting access to a legal abortion.

Featured Image Collaboration by Jason Talleious and Clinic Escort via Flickr/CC by 2.0