Pro-Life Advocates Stop Massive Push to Legalize Abortion in Peru

Five years ago the international abortion movement launched a well-funded effort to promote “safe abortion” in Peru.  Their devious strategy was to bypass the pro-life protections of the Peruvian Penal Code by expanding so-called “therapeutic” abortions.

The effort–as revealed by a PRI investigation–was incredibly sophisticated.  It involved creating and financing a network of public hospitals and NGOs, and then launching a series of media campaigns around specific women in crisis pregnancies.  The goal was to put in place a “therapeutic abortion protocol” pushed by the National Maternal-Perinatal Institute (INMP) that would allow abortion-on-demand for “health” reasons.

But we stopped it. We revealed this abortion scam and created a coalition of congressmen and pro-life organizations to oppose it. We revealed the truth about the illegal abortions that were being carried out under this illegal abortion protocol, and demanded–and got–it repealed.

The deceitful strategy of calling all abortions “therapeutic”

Peru has resisted the abortion industry’s assaults on life for a long time. Article 119 of our Penal Code is clear: abortion is a crime, and is only permitted to save the life of the mother or prevent serious and permanent damage to her health.

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The merchants of death are relentless, however, and have never stopped trying to expand the grounds for abortion. In 2014, for example, they managed to approve a Therapeutic Abortion Protocol. But of course they weren’t satisfied with this, since it requires two different medical boards to certify that a given case warrants an abortion.

So in 2018 they hit upon a new strategy which involves classifying all types of abortions as “therapeutic abortions.” Whereas before abortion advocates claimed that abortions due to rape and mental health issues were therapeutic, now everything from “stress” to “depression” supposedly had such a negative effect on women’s health that a “therapeutic abortion” was justified.

The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), though its Safe Abortion Committees, was a key player.  They identified Peru as one of ten key countries to implement their global abortion strategy. In 2018, they chose the Peruvian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SPOG) as their local partner and set to work. Their goal was to expand the Therapeutic Abortion Protocol.

To achieve this, they needed to create a false social consensus, so they also established an advocacy structure called the “safe abortion access support network.” This network had three components:

• The “State Component” involved the National Maternal Perinatal Institute (INMP) and eight public hospitals in major cities.
• The “Scientific Component” consisted of FIGO and SPOG.
• The “Civil Society Component” consisted of radical feminist NGOs that focused on training students in medicine and other groups on “safe abortion.”

The Safe Abortion Committee, with its generous foreign funding, set about organizing numerous training sessions for all the members of their expanding network throughout Peru. Virtually overnight, they created a cadre of opinion leaders on the topic of abortion.

The Committee also used its network of public hospitals to, as they called it, “generate and produce evidence.” This involved deliberately aborting women who did not qualify under the therapeutic abortion protocol. They did this to create the impression that it was urgently necessary to expand it. They then disseminated those statistics as valid to use through their network of public health institutions and local NGOs.

It was very clever, and very nearly succeeded.

The “Mila” case in July 2023 served as a media and political catalyst.

The pro-abortion NGO legally sponsored the case of Mila, an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant as a victim of rape. She was initially attended in the hospital of her hometown, Loreto, where the doctors concluded that she could continue with her pregnancy while receiving the necessary care, and that the conditions for a therapeutic abortion were not met.

It was at this moment that the “safe abortion” network went into action with a media campaign, forcing the authorities to transfer the minor to Lima. They specifically took her to the INMP, where the abortion was performed immediately based on a norm that they themselves had created and enacted.

The Mila case was the culmination of the pro-abortion activists’ plan, but PRI ensured that it became the starting point of their failure. We exposed how the legal and scientific discussion was being distorted, and were ultimately able to undermine and defeat the campaign to expand the therapeutic abortion protocol.

The Mila case was the end goal for the pro-abortion activists, but PRI made sure it became the beginning of the end of the advancement of “therapeutic abortion” in Peru.

Unveiling the manipulation of the legal and scientific framework

Our detailed investigation of the pro-aborts plan enabled us to probe its weaknesses and devise a strategy to defeat it.

The narrative of the need for “therapeutic abortions” in cases of rape due to psychological risk and post-traumatic stress had spread through the “safe abortion” network, as well as through articles in media outlets. However, it had never been validated at a legal or political level.

And that’s where we struck.

Confidential sources revealed to us that the lawyers in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs were well aware that expanding the causes for therapeutic abortion requires legislative amendments by Congress, and not a rule change by the INMP. As a result, the abortions performed beyond the reach of the Penal Code, like the one performed on Mila and three other cases that were publicized by media outlets at the time, were clearly illegal.

PRI presented its detailed research to pro-life congressmen and urged them to take action. In Peru, congressmen have the power to oversee public officials and even launch investigations into alleged criminal activities.

The first to act was congressman Jorge Montoya, who requested all the information on abortion procedures performed according to the therapeutic abortion protocol since 2014 from the Minister of Health. Although he was not given the entirety of the requested data, he did receive key documents that proved that the Mila case did not meet the legal requirements for a therapeutic abortion.

Its criminal activities revealed to the public, the “safe abortion” network stopped doing abortions.

Congresswoman Milagros Jauregui also played a key role.  In her capacity as president of the Commission on Women and Family of the Congress, also had a significant impact, she requested the Ministers of Health and Women’s Affairs to clarify whether abortion in cases of rape were legal, and if their ministries were promoting abortion in such cases.

As expected, the ministers both replied abortion in case of rape was illegal, that there was no legislative justification for such abortions, and that their ministries did not promote abortion in these circumstances (!)

Now it was the turn of the National Maternal Perinatal Institute (INMP) to have the illegality of their “therapeutic abortion” norm be exposed.  Congresswoman Jauregui summoned Dr. Ayala, the INMP’s Director, to a congressional hearing.

At this hearing, I was given the opportunity to explain and denounce the “therapeutic abortion plan.  I also engaged in a heated debate with the gynecologist Miguel Gutiérrez, a key figure in the “safe abortion” network.

The hearing not only exposed the INMP and the entire abortion network, but also led to a medical audit of all abortions carried out under the therapeutic abortion protocol since 2014.

Immediately after the hearing, Congressman Esdrás Medina sent a letter to the INMP Director, requesting the revocation of the expanded therapeutic abortion protocol norm.

The plan to expand abortion in Peru under the guise of “therapeutic abortion” is now officially dead.

What started as a carefully orchestrated attempt to distort Peruvian law to allow more abortions has ended in a resounding failure. PRI, with its constant surveillance and precise actions, showed how the combination of solid research and political pressure can confront and defeat even the most well-funded plans.

We know that the pro-aborts will be back.  They have lost a battle, but will not cease their war against the unborn.  We know that Peruvian sovereignty will be tested again by the anti-life, radical gender ideologies of the globalist elites.

But to quote our favorite American president, we will not bend and we will not break.  We will fight, fight, fight. And we will be ready for the next attack.

LifeNews Note: Carlos Polo is the Director of PRI Iberoamerica.

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