This dystopian trial in El Salvador is what a total ban on abortion looks like

This dystopian trial in El Salvador is what a total ban on abortion looks like

By Annalisa Merelli
August 20, 2019

When she was 18, Evelyn Beatríz Hernández Cruz, a high-school student from a poor family in Cojutepeque, El Salvador, was raped repeatedly, over the span of few months, by the member of a local gang. She unknowingly became pregnant and, in 2016, suffered a stillbirth during her third trimester.

She then spent nearly three years in prison, battling the country’s strict abortion laws.

Continued: https://qz.com/1688556/this-trial-in-el-salvador-is-what-a-total-abortion-ban-looks-like/


El Salvador: Evelyn Hernández cleared over baby’s death

El Salvador: Evelyn Hernández cleared over baby's death

20 August 2019

A 21-year-old woman in El Salvador whose baby was found dead in the toilet where she gave birth has been cleared of murder during a retrial.

Evelyn Hernández had always maintained she was innocent, saying that she did not know she was pregnant and lost consciousness during the birth.

Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence of 40 years.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49368632


Salvadoran rape victim jailed for stillbirth not guilty of murder

Salvadoran rape victim jailed for stillbirth not guilty of murder
Evelyn Hernandez, who was previously given 30 years for suspected abortion, found not guilty of homicide in retrial.

by Anna-Cat Brigida
August 19, 2019

El Salvador rape survivor Evelyn Hernandez was found not guilty of charges of aggravated homicide by a Salvadoran court Monday in a case that was the latest win for feminist activists fighting to end the criminalisation of women suspected of having abortions.

Prosecutors asked for a 40-year sentence during the retrial of 21-year-old Hernandez, who was the latest woman to go to trial for an abortion-related crime in El Salvador, a country that enforces its total abortion ban with a harshness unseen in nearly every other country.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/salvadoran-rape-victim-jailed-stillbirth-guilty-murder-190819185642576.html


Prosecutors ask for 40 years in a controversial abortion trial in El Salvador

Prosecutors ask for 40 years in a controversial abortion trial in El Salvador

By Flora Charner, CNN
August 16, 2019

(CNN)The controversial retrial of a rape victim in El Salvador concluded Friday, a case that has drawn international attention because of the country's strict abortion laws and could see the young woman's sentence lengthened.

Evelyn Hernandez was a teenager when she was first accused of inducing an abortion and later convicted of aggravated murder, claims which she has repeatedly rejected.

Continued: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/world/evelyn-hernandez-abortion-retrial-aug-15-intl/


In anti-abortion El Salvador, woman faces second homicide trial after baby stillborn

In anti-abortion El Salvador, woman faces second homicide trial after baby stillborn

Nelson Renteria, Reuters
August 1, 2019

SAN SALVADOR — Salvadoran maid Evelyn Hernandez says she did not realize she was pregnant when as an 18-year-old she delivered a stillborn son after a three-day stomach ache. A court in the Central American country, which bans abortion under all circumstances, ruled it aggravated homicide.

Prosecutors claimed that she had induced an abortion, and Hernandez was sentenced to 30 years. After she served nearly three years, the Supreme Court in February ordered her released and re-tried because the original judge’s decision was based on prejudice and insufficient evidence.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/in-anti-abortion-el-salvador-woman-faces-second-homicide-trial-after-baby-stillborn


Woman who bore rapist’s baby faces 20 years in El Salvador jail

Woman who bore rapist’s baby faces 20 years in El Salvador jail
Imelda Cortez, 20, faces trial in country where abortion is illegal under all circumstances

Nina Lakhani
Mon 12 Nov 2018

A rape victim is facing 20 years in jail charged with attempted murder, after she gave birth to her abuser’s baby in a latrine in El Salvador.

In a case that highlights the rigidity of the country’s abortion laws, Imelda Cortez, 20, from an impoverished rural family in San Miguel, has been in custody since April 2017 after giving birth to a baby girl fathered by her abusive elderly stepfather.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/nov/12/victim-who-bore-abusers-baby-in-a-latrine-jailed-for-20-years-in-el-salvador-imelda-cortez


Abortion ban in El Salvador has women fearful of miscarriage

Abortion ban in El Salvador has women fearful of miscarriage

Published October 14, 2017

In El Salvador, the abortion law is so strict just having a miscarriage can land a woman in jail.

The Central American country has some of the toughest anti-abortion laws in the world. Since 1998 any pregnant woman who loses her unborn child can be accused of homicide.

Abortion is banned under any circumstance in the country and women are petrified of having a problematic pregnancy.

Continued at source: https://america.cgtn.com/2017/10/14/abortion-ban-in-el-salvador-has-women-fearful-of-miscarriage


EL SALVADOR – Appeal to acquit Evelyn Hernandez and annul her 30-year sentence

EL SALVADOR – Appeal to acquit Evelyn Hernandez and annul her 30-year sentence

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Sep 1, 2017

The defence lawyers of Evelyn Hernandez presented an appeal to the court on 28 August to annul the 30-year prison sentence handed down on July 5, acquit her of any crime and order her immediate release.

The appeal is based on the argument that the judge did not take into account that the scientific evidence presented and the testimony of the expert witnesses during the trial did not allow the court to establish her guilt nor to sentence her to 30 years in prison for a murder she did not commit, as explained Bertha Deleon, one of her lawyers and a human rights defender.

SOURCE: Las 17, 28 August 2017 ; PHOTO
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Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/el-salvador-appeal-to-acquit-evelyn-hernandez-and-annul-her-30-year-sentence/


EL SALVADOR – In spite of anti-abortion opposition, two abortion law reform bills under consideration

EL SALVADOR – In spite of anti-abortion opposition, two abortion law reform bills under consideration

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Aug 22, 2017

El Salvador’s absolute ban on abortion is facing its greatest challenge in years. Buoyed by shifting public attitudes, reproductive rights activists are making headway on a bill to reform the law for victims of rape and human trafficking, women carrying non-viable pregnancies, and to protect women’s life and health.

Support for keeping the ban is also formidable – and The Guardian reported in July 2017 that they may have an outside source of anti-abortion help: a US-based anti-abortion group called Human Life International that may have been funnelling funds to El Salvador’s anti-abortion movement since 2000.

This month, during an action in front of the Legislative Assembly, national and international voices showed their support for the bill to reform Article 133 of the Criminal Code, which has been languishing in the country’s Congress for the past 10 months. The bill is still “under discussion” in the Constitutional Commission of the Assembly.

In a press conference attended by legislators from the parties WINS, FMLN and sand, it was reported that a petition with 89,453 signatures from all over the world had been handed in, in support of the bill, which has wide acceptance in Salvadoran public opinion. Margarita Rodriguez, President of the Parliamentary Group of Women, said: “To receive (almost) 90,000 signatures from women around the world, I am committed to working to reform the national legislation and to ensure the health and lives of women”.

In the most recent survey of public opinión by Untold Research in June 2017, it was found that 79% of Salvadorans said that: “Doctors should be allowed to provide the care necessary to save the life of a mother, including the termination of pregnancy.”

 The recent case of Evelyn Hernandez, who was wrongly convicted of aggravated homicide following a miscarriage, put El Salvador in the eye of the storm on the international scene, highlighting the lack of legal tools to protect the health of pregnant women.

It is hoped that the reform bill will be discussed within the coming weeks, before the beginning of the campaign ahead to launch the upcoming general election in 2018.

 Meanwhile, on 17 August, a deputy from the ARENA party, John Wright, introduced a new reform bill as a citizens’ initiative, which is backed with more than 1,000 signatures, which also proposes the decriminalization of abortion in cases of rape of a child and when there is a risk to the health or life of the pregnant woman. This was despite the fact that his party has made it clear they are not in favour of abortion under any circumstances.

SOURCES: The Guardian, by Molly Redden, Nina Lakhani, 27 July 2017 ; La Agrupación Ciudadana, 11 August 2017 ; La Prensa Grafica, 18 August 2017 ; PHOTO

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Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/el-salvador-two-abortion-law-reform-bills-under-consideration/


El Salvador: Women criminalized for abortions

Women criminalized for abortions
Latinamerica Press
7/26/2017

El Salvador is one of the seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where abortion is strictly prohibited.

Evelyn Hernández was 18 years old when she was raped by a gang member in April 2016, and leaving her pregnant. She was 28 weeks pregnant when she started feeling stomach pains and it was in the latrine of her house where she gave birth to a baby who died. She lost consciousness as she lay bleeding profusely; her mother rushed her to the hospital, where she was accused of having induced an abortion, and was detained.

Continued at source: Latin American Press: http://lapress.org/articles.asp?art=7442