Landmark pact to aid Baja California rape victims
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060309-9...
Officials had discouraged teen who sought abortion
By Sandra Dibble
March 9, 2006
Women's rights groups in Mexico and the United States celebrated an accord reached yesterday that commits the Baja California government to compensate
a Mexicali rape victim who was dissuaded from an abortion in 1999 by state officials, in defiance of state law.
The ?friendly agreement? before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C., closes the case of Paulina Ramirez Jacinto, left
pregnant at 13 when she was raped at knife-point after two men broke into her house.
Nearly seven years after the incident, the agreement provides compensation for Ramirez and her child, including guarantees for health services and
education, and a monetary settlement.
But it goes beyond Ramirez's case, committing the Mexican state and federal governments to clarify procedures involving victims who are impregnated by
rapists.
?It's another step forward for women's rights,? said Lilian Sepulveda, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. ?Many women
in Latin America find themselves in the same case as Paulina, where they're denied an abortion even in cases where it's legal.?
The agreement came a day after Human Rights Watch released a report in Mexico City that said rape victims across Mexico ?face multiple obstacles? when
they try to terminate the pregnancy. Though abortion is generally illegal in Mexico, rape victims have a right to abortion under state criminal codes.
The report concluded that Mexican public officials ?employ aggressive tactics to discourage and delay rape victims' access to legal abortion.?
The Mexican government estimates that more than 120,000 women are raped in Mexico each year. Many of those who become pregnant resort to ?back alley
abortions that endanger their lives and health,? the report stated.
Ramirez and her family sought an abortion in 1999 when they learned of her pregnancy a month after the rape. But the abortion was repeatedly delayed.
Doctors at the state-run General Hospital in Mexicali refused to perform the abortion, objecting on moral grounds. The state attorney general at the
time, Juan Manuel Salazar Pimentel, personally intervened by taking the girl to meet with a Catholic priest and urging against the abortion.
The family eventually agreed, after being told that the girl's life would be at risk if she terminated the pregnancy. The case was taken on by
feminist groups, which sought compensation for Ramirez and her child.
In 2001, the state of Baja California paid Ramirez $36,000 to buy a house, and an additional $1,000 to pay for school supplies. The state also offered
medical care for Ramirez and her son, Isaac.
The following year, feminist groups presented Ramirez's case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The commission is an autonomous arm of
the Organization of American States.
In December, the state of Baja California took a first step toward resolving the human rights case, publishing a statement in the Mexicali newspaper
La Voz ?recognizing that the lack of legal framework in the entity regarding abortion led to the violation of the human rights of Paulina del Carmen
Ramirez Jacinto.?
In a statement released yesterday, the state offered no details but confirmed an agreement, ?resolving once and for all a conflict that has lasted
many years, whose origins even precede this administration.?
Neither state officials nor a representative of Mexico's Foreign Ministry would comment.
Silvia Resendiz of Alaide Foppa, a women's rights group based in Mexicali, said the compensation package includes medical services for Ramirez and her
son until he reaches 18, as well as a guarantees of free tuition for Isaac in the state university system. The state will also ?modify laws and
regulations so that the Paulina case is not repeated.?
Mariana Winocur, a spokeswoman for Mexico City-based GIRE, a women's reproductive rights group, said that the agreement commits Mexico's federal
health secretariat to issue instructions to state health departments and other entities guaranteeing future violations won't occur in cases such as
Ramirez's.
The exact monetary compensation for Ramirez was kept under wraps yesterday. News reports said it totaled between $30,000 and $40,000.
?The injustice against Paulina was repaired, as much as possible,? Winocur said. ?It sets a very important precedent.?
Ramirez, 20, lives with her parents and two brothers in Mexicali, earning $55 a week piecing together locks in a maquiladora factory. Isaac, 5, is a
kindergarten student who rides a bike, watches cartoons, and calls his mother t?a, or aunt.
In a telephone interview, Ramirez said she hopes to use the money she receives to open a small grocery store inside her house.
?I just want the boy to get ahead, that he not lack for anything,? she said.
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