Colombian abortion law campaign is undermined by Washington
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 13 October 2005

Monica Roa has been the victim of death threats and burglaries and even accused of plotting genocide. Bodyguards stand at her door and travel with her every where. Despite all this, she refuses to back down.

The 29-year-old lawyer is the centre of an effort to overhaul the abortion law in Colombia, which has the most restrictive such legislation in Latin America. In a few nations in the region, abortion is illegal under any circumstances.

Ms Roa's opponents are the most senior figures within the church, hugely powerful in a country where more than 90 per cent of the population is Catholic. Yet she said her campaign to change the law was also undermined by the administration of President George Bush and its controversial "Mexico City" policy which bans overseas aid for groups that support abortion.

"It's been crucial," Ms Roa told The Independent on the phone from Bogota. "I have had lots of people saying they support what I am doing but they cannot say so publicly. People cannot speak about it. They lose their funding from USaid [US Agency for International Development] that goes to other projects in Colombia." Story