Our Peruvian Sisters are facing Horrible Rape Epidemic and Abortion Restrictions

In Peru, an Epidemic of Rape and Double Jeopardy for Rape Victims Seeking Abortion

Written by Françoise Girard for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the  original post.
Peru, while famous for its modern culinary delights and ancient civilizations, also has a far less flattering distinction: it has more reported cases of rape and sexual violence than any other country in South America. Eight in ten of these victims are minors.
Researchers estimate that 35,000 pregnancies occur every year in Peru as a result of rape. Women and girls in this situation are faced with two options: seek an illegal abortion and risk going to jail or carry the pregnancy to term and suffer the psychological and physical trauma that go along with giving birth to your rapist's child. Women who can prove that a pregnancy is the result of rape receive a "reduced" sentence of three months in jail (the standard prison sentence for illegal abortions in Peru is two years). Perversely, this reduced sentence does not apply to married women who are raped by their husbands, even though marital rape is a crime under Peruvian law. Doctors who perform abortions in cases of rape face up to six years in prison.
A coalition of women's rights groups have launched a campaign to challenge this cruel violation of human rights. The campaign, Dejala Decidir ("Let her decide"), seeks to introduce a new law that decriminalizes abortion in cases of rape (currently, abortion is only permitted when the woman's life or health is at risk

http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/rhrealitycheck/peru-epidemic-rape-and-double-jeopardy-rape-victims-seeking-abortion

What can you do to help?
share this with someone
write a letter to the government
speak to your MP or MLA
take one action to help - nothing is too small.

Sexism in the Media

The media helps to perpetuate sexist views of women and trivializes their efforts at changing the world because of their biases.  This article is instructive:

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/154869

Honour Killing in Canada is Unacceptable - Womn's Rights are Human Rights

Four women are dead at the hands of their own family because they are women and because they wanted the right to choose, to have agency over their lives.  For this they were all killed. Four promising lives.  What are we to make of this?
Mohammad Shafia, 58, an Afghan businessman, his wife Tooba Yahya, 41, and their son Hamed, 20, are accused of killing four female family members. All of them have pleaded not guilty to four counts each of first-degree murder.
   In short it is the worst form of domestic violence and a stark example of patriarchy at its worst.
Why do people with these strong beliefs want to come to Canada. They must have know that this is a free country where people have rights including children.
Three of the Shafia sisters - Sahar, 17, Zainab, 19, and Geeti, 13, - along with Mohammed Shafia's first wife Rona Amir Mohammad, were found dead in a car found submerged in a canal, outside Kingston.
  You cannot want your cake and eat it. They cannot want freedom and deny it to others.
I am not sure how much new immigrants understand about Canadian culture when they plan to come here.
When family honour is threatened, it is acceptable and expected that a male family member could kill a relative. Perhaps this is acceptable in the Middle-east but not in Canada.
    Canadian culture of freedom, democracy and the rights of women and children ought to be made very clear and perhaps some psychological test be given to folks to determine whether they can integrate into Canadian society at any this most critical level.
Denying women the right to choose in Canada is unacceptable. Killing women because they have a mind and want to use it, is an abomination.
     I think the perpetrators of this criminal activity ought to be given the full extent of the law, hopefully to deter others from doing the same.  The right of women and children is foundational in Canadian society.

   http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/home/honour-killing_expert_to_testify_at_canal_deaths_trial/8ceba816