Image: Rodrigo Chaves, at joint news conference with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the presidential palace, San Jose, Costa Rica, June 25, 2025. PHOTO: Anna Moneymaker/Pool. Photo via AP, File
Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves further restricted access to abortion in the country in October 2025, limiting it to situations when the pregnant woman’s life is in danger. The country’s previous regulations also allowed abortions if a pregnancy posed a threat to the woman’s health. No legislative approval was sought for the change.
In making the rule change through the Health Ministry, Chaves made good on a promise he had given religious conservatives at the Evangelical Alliance earlier in October 2025. The original protocol, established in 2019 under former President Carlos Alvarado, aimed to clarify when doctors could perform abortions to save a woman’s life or health without facing criminal charges.
“Today the only reason for which an abortion can be done without penalty is when there are only two options: the woman’s life or the life of the being that is inside,” Chaves said during a news conference. “The old regulation contained gaps that could allow broader access to abortions. I am proud to have repealed the existing regulation, which had loopholes,” he said.
While abortion access has advanced in recent years in some of Latin America’s largest countries, including Mexico and Argentina, Central American governments have maintained strong restrictions. Countries including Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua have total bans, while Guatemala allows for abortion only when the woman’s life is at risk.
SOURCES: AP News, by Javier Córdoba, 16 October 2025 ; Tico Times, 16 October 2025.