On February 18th, non-governmental organizations filed a petition with the Inter-America Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Amelia (pseudonym), a pregnant woman with advanced cancer whose doctors recommended that she urgently begin chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As a result of abortion being completely illegal in Nicaragua, “Amelia,” a 27-year-old mother of a 10-year-old girl, was being denied a therapeutic abortion and was not receiving life-saving cancer treatment, due to the risk that it could provoke an abortion. The submission presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by the non-governmental organizations requested that urgent precautionary measures be taken to ensure “Amelia” be made able to receive proper cancer treatment.
Following the requests received by the non-governmental organizations, the Inter-American Commission called on the State of Nicaragua (i) to adopt the measures necessary to ensure that her access to the medical treatment she needs to treat her metastatic cancer; (ii) to adopt the measures in agreement with the beneficiary and her representatives; and (iii) to keep her identity and that of her family under seal.
Within the deadline set to receive an answer (five days), the State of Nicaragua informed the Inter-America Commission on Human Rights that the requested treatment was initiated.