Peru

Planned Parenthood Global supports a diversity of Peruvian organizations that advocate for the full implementation of sexual and reproductive health laws, hold lawmakers accountable and promote recommendations from international human rights bodies. 

Our Peru partners focus on communication, education, technology integration, expanding access to information and services, and changing public opinion on sexual and reproductive health issues, specifically abortion. 

Even though abortion has been legal for health reasons since 1924, access remained nearly impossible due to limited understanding or implementation of the law, stigma, and little government guidance. The 2012 Déjala Decidir (Let her Decide) campaign, led by a diverse group of Planned Parenthood Global partners from all over the country, raised awareness and forced the first national public debate on the reality of abortion and sexual violence in the country. 

The Déjala Decidir campaign laid the groundwork for the 2014 approval of the Therapeutic Abortion Protocol by the Peruvian Ministry of Health. With this approval, the government recognized the legal abortion allowances, and acknowledged the obligation to ensure access. Since then, Planned Parenthood Global’s partners continue to successfully beat back legal challenges to the protocol  support other vital sexual and reproductive health laws, norms, and policies,  launch initiatives around full implementation of the Protocol, and further increase access through both public and private sectors. 

The Niñas No Madres Campaign has highlighted the plight faced by girl survivors of sexual violence. As part of this campaign, Promsex and Planned Parenthood Global filed the Camila case wherein a 14-year-old raped by her father was denied a legal abortion. The case was presented to the United Nations Committee of the Rights of the Child. The Camila case brought about an immediate outcry, resulting in a call to decriminalize abortion for girls 14 years old and younger.

Planned Parenthood Global supports networks of hundreds of committed young activists, who are inspired and fired up by broader progress in the region around sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR).  We partner with some of the country’s most progressive youth groups that leverage technology to demand sexual and reproductive rights for themselves and future generations.

By recognizing the various barriers to sexual and reproductive health information and care that youth face, our partners in Peru are addressing that gap by connecting with youth where they are. They do so with information, counseling, and services, in person, through text, hotlines, or a counseling chatbot. For example, APROPO, Jóvenes por los DSDR/Interquorum, and the youth of Sexualidad sin Sombras are breaking down barriers and leveraging technology to increase access, knowledge, and demand change.

Planned Parenthood Global is also engaging with traditional and nontraditional media to promote sexual and reproductive rights, highlighting the behavior of those in power who would take away rights, and centering the voices of those most affected by regressive policies. We are supporting Asociación Kallpa and other local partners to organize youth activists, collectives, and other youth-centered organizations to raise awareness and demand change from their local leaders. 

Another partner, Centro Ideas, is bringing attention to cases of gender-based violence and cases of forced pregnancy in underaged girls in a very conservative area of Peru, through a network of tele-activists who monitor for and follow up on cases of sexual violence.

Through our financial and technical support, our partners are making lasting changes in the lives of women, adolescents, and girls in their communities.