Reproductive rights in Cuba
An example for the divided USA?
Cuba legalized abortion in 1965, thus becoming the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to decriminalize abortion. In Cuba today, the exercise of reproductive rights is constitutionally guaranteed; Article 43 of the 2019 Constitution affirms the sexual and reproductive rights of women. There was barely any mention of it in the extensive public and people’s constitutional debate in 2018 and 2019, reflecting the high level of support for the protection of reproductive rights in Cuban society.
In a recent newspaper interview, Cuban Minister of Public Health José Angel Portal Miranda explained that Cuban reproductive rights are sustained on a base of three fundamental principles: a woman decides over her body and whether she will terminate a pregnancy; the voluntary interruption of pregnancy is carried out in a controlled environment by specialized personnel; and it is entirely free, as are all health services. Abortions are provided in maternal hospitals and in …