Female infanticide and feticide

Under the Criminal Code, rape is defined quite narrowly as “sexual intercourse against a person’s will with the use or threat of physical violence present or deprivation of possibility of resistance.” There is also no mention of rape in marriage. To hold a person liable for rape, which is punished by imprisonment for up to seven years, the victim or their representative must file a complaint. However, in the case of rape (i) by a group of accomplices or (ii) of a minor or a young child, the term of imprisonment can be longer, and complaint filing is not needed.

In CEHAT v. Union of India, the health and gender justice NGO CEHAT, along with other petitioners, filed public interest litigation challenging the government’s failure to effectively implement the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994. They contended that inadequate enforcement had contributed to increasing sex-selective abortions and a declining child sex ratio in India.

The Guatemalan Penal Code criminalizes abortion for both the woman and the person performing it in most circumstances. Article 134 provides that a woman who seeks her own abortion may be sentenced to one to three years in prison, although the penalty may be reduced to six months to two years if the act is motivated by mental health issues directly related to the pregnancy.

The Crimes Act regulates criminal offenses in Samoa, including provisions on infanticide, feticide, sexual crimes, and trafficking.

A married woman with three children was allowed to undergo a therapeutic abortion for an anencephalic fetus for health reasons. To do so, she had to file a request with the hospital and the court, which had a formal hearing to determine that the rights of the fetus were being respected and that the procedure was strictly for health reasons. The decision was appealed to a higher court, which affirmed the family court’s decision. They cited international law to support the decision, citing both the mother’s rights to raise a family as she saw fit and the rights of the anencephalic fetus.

The objective of Law No. 30364 is to prevent, eradicate, and penalize all forms of violence against women and family group members, especially those who are particularly vulnerable because of their age or physical attributes (e.g., children, adolescents, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities).

On March 9, 2015, Brazil’s existing Penal Code was amended to criminalize femicide, with sentencing ranging from twelve to thirty years of imprisonment. The new legislation defined femicide as a sex-based homicide committed against women, with the involvement of domestic violence, discrimination or contempt for women. The crime is aggravated if the victim is a pregnant woman, a woman within the first three months of maternity, a girl under the age of fourteen years or a woman over sixty years of age.

Law No. 059/2023 of December 4, 2023 amending Law No. 68/2018 of August 30, 2018 determining offenses and penalties in general, Rwanda, entered into force on December 5, 2023

Law No. 68/2018 of 30 August 2018 determining offenses and penalties in general, Rwanda, entered into force on 27 September 2018, as amended by Law No. 059/2023 of 4 December 2023

Two parents sought the assistance of a non-identified female in carrying out a circumcision of their daughter, then aged 21 months and 25 days. The infant’s parents proceeded to assist the non-identified female in the act by immobilising their child throughout the operation. The child subsequently suffered from an external hemorrhage caused by an aperture of the wound, causing anaemia and loss of appetite. The infant’s parents did not at this stage bring the child’s critical condition to the attention of a doctor or emergency services. The child died shortly thereafter.