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== History ==
American colonial powers in Puerto Rico had a major impact on the island's relationship with women's reproductive rights and on abortion laws.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Azize-Vargas|first=Yamila|last2=Avilés|first2=Luis A.|date=1997|title=Abortion in Puerto Rico: The Limits of Colonial Legality|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3775136|journal=Reproductive Health Matters|volume=5|issue=9|pages=56–65|issn=0968-8080}}</ref> In 1937, modeled after US-initiated eugenic policies, Puerto Rico adopted more liberal abortion policies which saw the introduction of [[Malthusianism|Malthusian]] clinics. Prior to this, abortion in Puerto Rico had been all but illegal. The changes meant medical doctors effectively became the arbitrators of when it was legal for women to be given an abortion.<ref name=":1" /> There was no move by the legislature of Puerto Rico to make abortion legal prior to the 1973 ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]] ruling.<ref name=":1" /> Research on abortion on the island only began in 1983.<ref name=":1" /> In 1993, there were thirteen private clinics on the island offering abortion services.<ref name=":1" />
Pregnant women in Puerto Rico in 2016 were at risk of getting the [[Zika virus]], which causes major fetal defects. These defects can be so severe that they warrant terminating a pregnancy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/29/zika-virus-latin-america-women-abortion|title=Zika virus: the options facing pregnant women across Latin America|last=Gani|first=Aisha|date=2016-01-29|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-05-29|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Prior to the ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' ruling, it was often a bit cheaper and easier for women to obtain abortions in Puerto Rico than it was for women to obtain abortions in the mainland United States. White women were one of the largest groups of women to travel to the island to get an abortion.<ref name=":4" /> In 2018 and 2019, the effects of Hurricane Maria hampered women's ability on the island to get access to abortion services.<ref name=":4" />
=== Legislative history ===
There was no move by the legislature of Puerto Rico to make abortion legal prior to the 1973 ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]] ruling.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> An evangelical minister Senator named [[Nayda Venegas]] put forth a proposed law on March 4, 2019 that would require women under the age of 21 to get parental consent before being allowed to have an abortion. This effort failed. <ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-ricans-fight-against-women-s-rights-setbacks-international-women-n981146|title=Puerto Ricans fight against women's rights setbacks on International Women's Day|website=NBC News|language=en|access-date=2019-05-23}}</ref> On May 7, 2018, Puerto Rico legislature proposed a series of abortion restrictions that were signed into law by the territory's governor on March 7, 2019.<ref name=":2" /> The restrictions included girls under the age of 18 being required to get parental consent before being allowed to get an abortion. An exception was allowed saying, “the minor can go to court if she insists on having an abortion to present their claims to getting an abortion."<ref name=":2" /> PS950 was vetoed on the same day, March 7, 2019 by Governor [[Ricardo Rosselló]] who said the legislation imposed “onerous restrictions” on a woman's ability to access abortion services. The House then overrrode the veto of PS950. <ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/3120341/as-activists-rebuild-puerto-rico-lawmakers-are-trying-to-restrict-abortion/|title=As Activists Rebuild Puerto Rico, Lawmakers Are Trying To Restrict Abortion|last=Staff|first=MTV News|website=MTV News|language=en|access-date=2019-06-08}}</ref>
=== Judicial history ===
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The [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]]'s decision in 1973's ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Buell|first=Samuel|date=1991-01-01|title=Criminal Abortion Revisited|url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/2174|journal=New York University Law Review|volume=66|pages=1774–1831}}</ref> Abortion also became legal in Puerto Rico as a consequence of this decision.<ref name=":1" />
== Statistics ==
== International Women's Day ==▼
23 out of every 1,000 pregnancies in 1999 were terminated as a result of an abortion.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" />
In 2019, [[International Women's Day]] in Puerto Rico revolved around women taking to the streets en masse to support abortion rights. Their efforts this day on abortion rights were part of broader 8M efforts to combat gender violence.<ref name=":2" /> 107 women in Puerto Rico were killed between 2007 to 2011 as a result of partner violence. Of these 30 were killed in 2011 alone. In 2018, 23 women were murdered by intimate partners with 53 total women killed as a result of domestic violence that year.<ref name=":2" />▼
== Contraceptives ==
During the 1950s, mass sterilization campaigns took place on the island. When the first medical trials for the contraceptive pill in the United States took place in the 1960s, they occurred in Puerto Rico.<ref name=":1" /> In 1994, Puerto Rico used its MCH block-grant funds to provide people with contraceptive services and supplies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/1996/07/public-funding-contraceptive-sterilization-and-abortion-services-1994|title=Public Funding for Contraceptive, Sterilization and Abortion Services, 1994|date=2008-04-24|website=Guttmacher Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-05-23}}</ref> Puerto Rico used social services block-grant funds in 1994 for contraceptive services and supplies.<ref name=":0" />
== Abortion rights views and activities ==
=== Organizations ===
[[Taller Salud]] is one of the organizations supporting abortion rights.<ref name=":4" />
=== Views ===
Taller Salud's Michel Collado said in 2019, “Over the last few years, we’ve been struggling with a government that has eliminated access to sex education and gender perspective in public schools; they also cut funding to the NGOs [non-government organizations] that work with those issues."<ref name=":4" />
=== Protests ===
▲In 2019, [[International Women's Day]] in Puerto Rico revolved around women taking to the streets en masse to support abortion rights. Their efforts this day on abortion rights were part of broader 8M efforts to combat gender violence.<ref name=":2" /> 107 women in Puerto Rico were killed between 2007 to 2011 as a result of partner violence. Of these 30 were killed in 2011 alone. In 2018, 23 women were murdered by intimate partners with 53 total women killed as a result of domestic violence that year.<ref name=":2" />
== Footnotes ==
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