[5] Researchers have found that 95-97% of the abortions are unsafe, meaning done by people lacking needed skills or in places that do not meet the minimum medical standards.
[9] It is estimated that 10 percent of the maternity beds in hospitals are typically occupied by women who experience problems from unsafe abortions.
[10] Prior to recent steps by the Dominican Republic to affirm its long-standing position against abortion,[11] efforts were made in the twentieth century to increase access.
Abortion was thus allowed in the event that a mother’s physical or mental health would be jeopardized as a result of a pregnancy or in cases where the baby would be born disabled or deformed.
In the Dominican Republic, those impacted by this law attempted to amend the language of the constitution to give them access in cases where their lives were in danger, but their request was rejected.
[4] Despite having laws that make seeking an abortion illegal and punishable, the Dominican Republic is still required by its constitution to uphold the domestic application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Because part of the right to reproductive choice has been construed to include the freedom to make individual abortion decisions, which is severely prohibited in Article 37, this constitutional need is complicated by its violation of that provision.
Currently, the Dominican Republic is compelled by its constitution to both offer women access to abortion services and to outlaw them completely.
Amnesty International appealed to Parliament to consider decriminalizing abortion, with the following statement:The proposed penal code flies in the face of women's and girls' human rights and maintains a situation in which health professionals are prevented from providing the best care for their patients, The criminalization of abortion in all circumstances, as maintained in the new legislation, violates women's rights to life, health and not to suffer torture or ill treatment and discrimination and it goes against international human rights commitments made by the Dominican Republic.The appeal pointed out that unsafe abortion and fear of prosecution contribute to the high rate of maternal mortality that the World Health Organization reports in the country.
In July 2012, the Dominican Republic's harsh anti-abortion laws came under fire when a 16-year-old girl known as "Esperancita" was suffering from acute leukemia and was being denied treatment for her cancer because her chemotherapy might harm or kill the fetus.
The pro-choice movement in the Dominican Republic is focused largely on creating exceptions to Article 37 and more recent work to overturn restrictions on abortion access.
[14] Regarding the adoption of Article 37, The Dominican Gynecology and Obstetrics Society warned that the number of maternal deaths will increase considerably, because pregnancies can not be interrupted.
The society's president, Aldrian Almonte, said the current figure of 160 deaths for each 100,000 live births per year will increase, because doctors would be reluctant to proceed from fear of being charged in cases where they must decide on the interruption of a pregnancy to preserve the parent's life.
Feminist Denise Paiewonsky asked Congress to amend the article before adopting it; otherwise it would limit women's options for reproductive health.
[18] In March 2021, as a new penal code that maintained an absolute ban on abortion was being discussed in Congress, a group of activists set up camp outside The National Palace.
[19] Organizations such as the United Nations Program for Human Development, Amnesty International, and the Association of Housewives Committees have also condemned the government’s moves to criminalize abortion.
[20] A new program to add incentive for using contraceptives was designed to give students an idea of the workload involved in caring for a newborn baby.
Called "Bebé, Piénsalo Bien", the program was sponsored by The Dominican Republic's First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández.
[11] The Dominican Catholic Church, which has played an active role in the fight against abortion, holds the belief that the right to life must remain absolute.
[21] Since the Dominican Republic ratified Article 37, anti-abortion efforts by the national government have acted primarily as a response to the pro-choice movement.