forced pregnancy

Article 181 of this Code prohibits all practices enabling early or forced marriage of girls under 18 years of age, including by coercion, psychological pressure, emotional blackmail, or social pressure. Anyone who arranges such a marriage is liable to imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine (Article 375).  In addition, Article 331 of the Code provides that any individual who by tradition or custom is responsible for the pregnancy of a minor girl can be sentenced for up to two years imprisonment and is liable for a fine.

The law distinguishes the crimes of “sexual aggression” and “sexual aggression with penetration.” A person commits the crime of sexual aggression (article 182) if (i) he or she practices a sexual act by means of coercion, violence, or threat against someone, including a spouse, or (ii) he or she enables another person to commit such act against a third person and the sentence ranges from six months to four years of imprisonment.

Article 163 punishes sexual coercion – to coerce someone to practice a “relevant sexual act” – with imprisonment from one to eight years. Article 164 punishes forcible intercourse (“violação”) with imprisonment from one to six years. Article 168 punishes artificial procreation without a woman’s consent, with imprisonment from one to eight years. Articles 171 and 172 punish sexual abuse of minors of 14 years with imprisonment from 1-10 years. Article 173 punishes sexual acts with adolescents (individuals between 14 and 16 years old) with imprisonment up to three years.

A Mississippi abortion clinic and one of its physicians challenged a Mississippi state law, called the Gestational Age Act (“GAA”), which made it illegal for women to obtain abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the GAA’s enforcement during the trial, which was granted.

Karen Noelia Llantoy Huamán, a 17-year-old Peruvian, decided to terminate her pregnancy when she discovered that carrying her anencephalic fetus to term would pose serious risks to her health. When she arrived at Archbishop Loayza National Hospital in Lima to obtain the abortion procedure, the hospital director refused to allow the procedure because article 119 of the Criminal Code permitted therapeutic abortions solely when termination was the only way of saving the mother’s life or avoiding serious and permanent damage to her health.

Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2003), as amended.

Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska (2017), as amended.

Law 599 of 2000 whereby the Penal Code of Colombia is issued.

The Parliament enacted this law as a response to a study ordered by government ministers that revealed that 69% of women in Benin had been the victim of some form of gender-based violence at least once in their lives. The law seeks to tackle and abolish all forms of violence against women and girls in the Republic of Benin. The law has a wide scope and adopts a very broad definition of violence that includes physical, sexual, moral, psychological, and economic violence, and any threats of such violence, both in the public and domestic domain.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act establishes the legal framework for abortion procedures in Barbados.