Adolescent Girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Dominican Republic

A girl, 17, breastfeeds her son while checking her phone at her home in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is currently pregnant for the second time. © 2019 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

A young woman, 18, dresses her daughter, a toddler, while her younger child sleeps nearby at their home in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She stopped going to school during her first pregnancy and has not returned. © 2019 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

A street in a community in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where Human Rights Watch interviewed several girls and young women who had pregnancies during adolescence. © 2019 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

People take part in a march in Santo Domingo for the decriminalization of abortion in three circumstances: when the life of a pregnant woman is in danger, when the pregnancy resulted from rape, or when the fetus will not survive outside the womb. © 2018 Erika Santelices/AFP/Getty Images

Rosa Hernández looks at photos of her daughter, Rosaura Almonte Hernández, who died in 2012 at age 16. Rosaura, known as “Esperancita,” had leukemia. Doctors initially denied her chemotherapy because she was pregnant and refused to end the pregnancy because abortion is illegal under all circumstances in the Dominican Republic. © 2018 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

A young woman, 22, sits with her daughter while discussing contraceptive methods with a health worker at a clinic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She was first pregnant at 17. Public health data shows one-fourth of adolescent girls and young women ages 15 to 19, and one-fifth of women ages 20 to 24 have an unmet need for contraception in the Dominican Republic. © 2019 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

A nurse prepares a contraceptive injection at a clinic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Access to confidential, non-stigmatizing sexual and reproductive health services is essential to fulfilling the right to health for adolescent girls and young women. © 2019 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

A young woman, 18, holds her son and talks to a friend in her neighborhood in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She left school when she first became pregnant, but now takes classes on Sundays while her partner watches her child. © 2019 Tatiana Fernández Geara for Human Rights Watch

Protecting Rights, Saving Lives