In an advisory released Wednesday, CDC said pregnant women should abstain from sex or use condoms during intercourse with male sexual partners who have traveled to a country affected by the Zika virus, the New York Times reports.
Background
The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne disease that has spread across Latin America over the past year. The virus is not easily diagnosed, and it does not have a cure or vaccine. It also may be linked to the birth defect microcephaly, a condition in which an infant is born with an abnormally small head and brain. The condition is fatal for some infants, while others experience permanent disabilities.
Officials in Brazil and Honduras have issued guidance recommending that women in those countries avoid pregnancy. El Salvador recommends that women not get pregnant until 2018. However, many countries in Latin America restrict access to contraception and often ban abortion.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the ongoing Zika virus outbreak and its suspected link to a microcephaly a public health emergency of international concern. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said studies on the connection between the Zika virus and microcephaly will begin in the next several weeks (Women's Health Policy Report, 2/2).
CDC advisory details
According to the Times, CDC issued the advisory after health care officials in Texas confirmed the first U.S. case of the virus being transmitted via sex.
The advisory said pregnant women should abstain from sex or use condoms during vaginal, anal or oral sex throughout the woman's pregnancy. CDC also advised pregnant women not to visit affected countries and said women who are trying to become pregnant should talk with their physicians before visiting those locations.
The organization said it would issue guidance in the next few days focused on how male partners can help avoid spreading the virus via sex (New York Times, 2/4).
Opinion: Latin American women need abortion access in midst of Zika virus
In related news, columnist Jessica Valenti in an opinion piece for The Guardian writes about how, as Zika continues to spread, "activists and political leaders alike need to call on countries with restrictive abortion laws to help women. The alternative -- limiting women's rights at the risk of unsafe abortions -- is simply too disastrous."
Valenti notes that Colombia and El Salvador, which have both "seen increased cases of Zika and of microcephaly in babies," have recommended women delay pregnancy. However, "both countries also have strict laws on abortion, and El Salvador has a low rate of contraceptive use, making it all the more difficult for women to avoid pregnancy," she writes.
According to Valenti, "The concern from international women's health organizations is not only that women lack reproductive care options, but that the lack of options could lead to an increase of illegal and unsafe abortions." She explains, "As it stands, 95% of abortions that happen in Latin America, where laws restricting the procedure are quite strict, are performed in unsafe conditions."
Valenti cites Paula Ávila-Guillen, programs specialist at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and an expert on reproductive policy in Latin America, who noted, "'Unsafe abortion is the number one maternal mortality cause in the region ... When women decide to terminate their pregnancies, they are going to do so -- it's just a matter of how.'"
Valenti notes that while Colombia permits abortion care "in cases of life-threatening fetal [anomalies], unsafe and illegal abortions are common." According to Ávila-Guillen, "Another huge problem" in Colombia "is that Zika is most prevalent in rural areas where mosquitoes tend to congregate while abortion services ... are mostly limited to cities."
Meanwhile, "[i]n El Salvador -- where abortion is illegal under all circumstances and women are thrown in jail if they can't prove their miscarriage or stillbirth is the result of natural causes -- the landscape is even bleaker," Valenti writes. She explains that, according to Ávila-Guillen, "those working to make abortion legal in the country have to be incredibly careful" because the "law punishes those seen as instigating or pushing abortion."
CRR, WomenOnWeb and another abortion-rights group have been working to increase abortion access in Latin America, Valenti writes. However, "[a]s Ávila-Guillen rightly points out, the responsibility for caring for women potentially affected by Zika lies with governments," she continues, noting, "Governments also hold the responsibility to ensure that health warnings aren't limited to women but given to men as well, calling on them to use condoms instead of simply insisting women not get pregnant. "
Valenti concludes, "The recommendations as they stand are not just unrealistic, they're dangerous ... if there's one thing that public health experts know, it's this: women who don't want to be pregnant will find some way not to be, including illegal and unsafe abortions" (Valenti, The Guardian, 2/3).
