When a woman dies giving birth, it is a tragedy. When the State is responsible for that death, it is unacceptable. It is one of the most aggressive manifestations of violence committed against women.
This is the case of María Ligia, a 41-year-old indigenous Mayan woman who suffered multiple violations of her human rights, causing her death on January 27, 2014, when she was twenty-one weeks pregnant with twins. María Ligia should not have died, Yucatan let her die.
Her death was the result of a series of omissions and deficiencies of the public health system, combined with the discrimination that indigenous women suffer. Sixty-five percent of maternal deaths occur in clinics and hospitals belonging to the federal or state health service. Yucatan must fulfill its obligations to prevent more women from dying from pregnancy related causes.
