Central America: Home to the world’s strictest abortion laws

July 28, 2023
By Ana de Leon

Panama City (EFE) - The world’s strictest abortion laws are found in the countries of Central America, where women can face long prison sentences if convicted of deliberately ending their pregnancies.

And even in cases of miscarriages or stillbirths, women can be accused of killing their babies and end up behind bars.

Four of the 10 countries worldwide with the most severe penalties for abortions are located in Central America and the Caribbean: El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, which completely ban that medical procedure.

Continued: https://www.laprensalatina.com/central-america-home-to-the-worlds-strictest-abortion-laws/

28.07.2023

News

aggravated homicide

Beatriz

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

El Salvador Recognizes Inter-American Court Ruling On Abortion

The judgment declares the Salvadoran State responsible for the violations of the judicial guarantees, integrity, and freedom of Manuela, a woman who died in prison while serving an abortion sentence.

10 January 2023
by teleSUR/MS

The Salvadorian government recognized a judgment issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in 2021 against it on the case of Manuela, a woman who died in jail while serving a 30-year sentence for abortion.

The IACHR judgment declares the Salvadoran State responsible for the violations of the judicial guarantees, integrity, freedom, and the right to equality before the law of Manuela and her family, for whom the State will seek alternative education and medical care as reparations.

Continued: https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/El-Salvador-Recognizes-Inter-American-Court-Ruling-On-Abortion-20230110-0012.html

10.01.2023

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Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Manuela

Morena Herrera

National Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion

El Salvador woman’s 50-year jail sentence outrages abortion rights group

July 4, 2022
Reuters

SAN SALVADOR - A woman in El Salvador has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for aggravated homicide in a controversial case in which authorities argued she had killed her baby after giving birth, while her defenders said she had suffered a miscarriage.

Salvadoran authorities said the woman carried her baby to near-full term and gave birth in June 2020. After having the baby, she stabbed it in the neck six times, they said.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-womans-50-year-jail-sentence-outrages-abortion-rights-group-2022-07-04/

04.07.2022

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News

Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion

Morena Herrera

prosecuting women for miscarriage

El Salvador – Abortion laws: The women jailed for suffering miscarriages

By Valeria Perasso and Fernando Duarte
Jun 30, 2022

Karen was sentenced to 30 years in prison in El Salvador in 2015 after being accused of having an abortion

When Karen woke up in an El Salvador hospital, she
noticed that she was handcuffed to a bed and there were police officers by her
bedside.

"There were a lot of people around and they were saying I had taken my
baby's life and that I was going to 'pay for what I had done'," Karen
tells BBC 100 Women.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-61995250

30.06.2022

Commentary

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green wave

jailing women for miscarriage

Las 17

Morena Herrera

Nayib Bukele

Women's Equality Center

Salvadoran women jailed for abortion warn US of total ban

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and JESSIE WARDARSKI
Jun 9, 2022

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Teodora del Carmen Vásquez was nine months pregnant and working at a school cafeteria when she felt extreme pain in her back, like the crack of a hammer. She called 911 seven times before fainting in a bathroom in a pool of blood.

The nightmare that followed is common in El Salvador, a heavily Catholic country where abortion is banned under all circumstances and even women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths are sometimes accused of killing their babies and sentenced to years or even decades in prison.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-politics-health-caribbean-religion-8dcebe19ea1d3f20ef288463f4392da4

El Salvador’s jailed women offer US glimpse of post-Roe future

‘Don’t let our reality become your reality,’ campaigners warn after woman is freed after decade behind bars for medical emergency ruled attempted murder

Nina Lakhani
Thu 19 May 2022

A33-year-old woman in El Salvador who suffered a medical emergency while pregnant has been freed after serving a decade in jail for attempted murder, the victim of a draconian abortion ban being replicated in the US.

The woman, named only as Jacqueline, sought medical help for an obstetric complication in 2011, and even though the baby survived, she was arrested on suspicion of attempted abortion. She was separated from her newborn daughter and eight-year-old son, and sentenced to 15 years for attempted murder.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/19/abortion-el-salvador-jailed-women-roe-v-wade

Inside the fight against criminalisation of abortion in El Salvador

My new film documents how more than 50 Salvadoran women serving lengthy prison terms have been set free by feminist activism

Mariana Carbajal
21 March 2022

“I was
unconscious. When I woke up and saw the police were there, they were
handcuffing me... I didn't even understand... I only know that they just beat
me, treated me very badly, and at the end when I asked what was happening, they
told me I had killed my daughter and would be 50, 60 years in jail for the
crime I had committed.”

With these words, Teodora Vázquez explains the circumstances of her detention,
after giving birth a stillborn child in 2007. She was convicted of ‘aggravated
homicide’, sentenced to 30 years, and released in 2018 after a long legal
battle.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/inside-the-fight-against-criminalisation-of-abortion-in-el-salvador/

Thousands march in El Salvador to demand abortion rights

06/03/2022

San Salvador (AFP) – Around 2,000 women marched in El Salvador's capital on Sunday to demand the legalization of abortion and a decrease in the killings of women in the Central American country.

With slogans such as "It's my body, abortion is my right," "No more patriarchal violence" and "Women are strong and together we take care of ourselves," they demonstrated in San Salvador wearing purple or green scarves around their necks in anticipation of International Women's Day on March 8.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220306-thousands-march-in-el-salvador-to-demand-abortion-rights

06.03.2022

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aggravated homicide charges

Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion

International Women's Day

jailing women for abortion

Morena Herrera

pro-choice march

prosecuting women for abortion

Salvadoran women tell of unjust treatment under abortion law

By Marcos Alemán, The Associated Press
Tue., Feb. 22, 2022

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The four women all had sought medical help for obstetric emergencies, and each ended up in prison sentenced to 30 years on aggravated homicide convictions for allegedly terminating their pregnancies.

After spending a combined four decades behind bars in El Salvador, one of the four countries in the Western Hemisphere with total bans on abortions, they were recently released thanks to a campaign by human rights activists.

Continued: https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ts/news/world/americas/2022/02/22/salvadoran-women-tell-of-unjust-treatment-under-abortion-law.html

El Salvador woman punished under strict abortion law freed after 10 years

‘Elsy’ was sentenced to 30 years for aggravated homicide over miscarriage and is fifth such woman to be released since December

AP in San Salvador
Wed 9 Feb 2022

El Salvador has released another woman imprisoned for aggravated homicide who after suffering an obstetric emergency was accused of aborting her pregnancy in a country where abortion under any circumstances is banned.

The woman, who activists helping her identified only as Elsy, had served more than a decade of a 30-year sentence. She was the fifth woman released before completion of her sentence since late December of last year.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/09/el-salvador-woman-freed-abortion-law-10-years

09.02.2022