Lima, Peru: Peruvian women and activists took to the streets in Lima on Saturday demanding the legalisation of abortion in Peru, with a particular focus on minors’ rights.
Women, civil rights defenders, and members of various organisations marched in the capital under the slogan “Mothers by decision, not by obligation,” ahead of the Day of Global Action for Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion on September 28.
Currently, abortion is legal in Peru only when it is performed by a physician with the woman's consent and is the only means of saving the pregnant woman's life or preventing serious and permanent harm to her health.
Amnesty International, one of the organisations supporting the march, said that in 2026, hundreds of minors and women were denied therapeutic abortions despite having suffered sexual abuse.
In the first half of this year, 1,089 girls aged 14 or younger became mothers in Peru as a result of rape, Amnesty said. Of the 7,170 cases of rape against women recorded during the same period, 62 per cent of the victims were minors.
