Ensenadan to be prosecuted for abortion

A young Ensenada woman faces up to five years in prison after physicians at the city’s general hospital reported her to authorities for allegedly using pills to provoke an abortion.

Abortion remains illegal in Baja California except in cases of rape, an illness that would put the mother’s life at risk, artificial insemination performed without a woman’s consent, or if the abortion is the result of an accident. Otherwise, the law provides for punishment of one to five years in prison for a woman convicted of obtaining an abortion and for anyone who assists her.

According to the daily newspaper La Jornada Baja California, the 23-year-old woman, who was not identified, went to Ensenada General Hospital on January 3rd “in a poor state of health” seeking medical attention. Physicians who examined her discovered three abortion-inducing Misoprostol tablets in the woman’s vagina and reported their finding to hospital authorities, who then reported the woman to state prosecutors.

Use of the pills resulted in “the expulsion of a baby of 18 weeks’ gestation,” the newspaper reported.

Charges were filed against the woman on January 5th. A judge released her without bail and she is scheduled for a hearing on March 10th.

Between January and November of 2017, Baja California authorities opened 72 investigations against women suspected of illegal abortions, La Jornada reported.