Silence and Complicity, Violence Against Women in Peruvian Public Health Facilities, a new documentary chronicles the massive abuses suffered by Peruvian women at the hands of an ineffective and dangerous new health care system. The film’s sponsors, The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy and the Latin America and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights, hope that the film will rally support from American women, who have maintained some measure of reproductive freedom within their healthcare systems.
The documentary, which begins showing in NY this month, chronicles unparalleled human atrocities, from rape to death caused by sub-standard operating conditions. It includes the story of one woman who was forced to stay in bed for 10 days following the birth of her child because she couldn’t afford to pay her hospital bill. Peru’s Program on Reproductive Health and Family Planning, instituted in 1995, has been surrounded by widespread reports of abuse, neglect, and deaths resulting from inexperienced, “over-zealous” medical workers rushing to fill government-established quotas.
