The Dark State Of Abortion Rights In El Salvador, And First Signs Of Light

Although the last Salvadorian woman imprisoned on charges linked to abortion was released in December, 11 similar cases are currently pending in the country. Human rights activists acknowledge the progress made, and the work that remains to be done to overturn strict anti-abortion laws.

Mariana Escobar Bernoske
March 09, 2024

BOGOTÁ — In December 2023, Lilian was the last Salvadoran woman to regain her freedom after spending seven years in prison for an obstetric emergency. In 2015, the courts found her guilty of "murdering" her unborn baby by planning an abortion, when in fact, a tear in her uterus had caused the death. Medics had to give her three blood transfusions to stabilize her.

El Salvador is one of Latin America's most restrictive states in terms of women's sexual and reproductive rights. Abortion is banned as the state considers persons to exist from the moment of conception, contrary to the advice of international human rights groups. Under this strict ban, women who have had pregnancy complications, miscarriages or prenatal deaths to be charged with premeditating abortion.

Continued: https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/abortion-righs-el-salvador

El Salvador, where a miscarriage can land you in jail

María Isabel Sánchez
Feb 16, 2024

Lilian was 20 when her newborn baby died of medical complications at a hospital in El Salvador, where abortion is a crime and even the suspicion of one can land a woman in jail.

Lilian was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison for "aggravated homicide" after her infant daughter passed away at a public hospital in Santa Ana in the country's west in November 2015.

Continued: https://www.kulr8.com/news/national/el-salvador-where-a-miscarriage-can-land-you-in-jail/article_d8216c25-f609-5b35-836b-ee0e1035e42a.html

16.02.2024

Commentary

aggravated homicide

Alba Lorena Rodríguez

Arturo Castellanos

Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion

Lilian in El Salvador

El Salvador woman freed after abortion conviction

17th January 2024
By Leonardo Rocha

A Salvadoran woman has been freed from prison more than seven years after she was convicted for having an abortion.

The 28-year-old, identified only as Lilian, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2015.

She gave birth to a girl in a public hospital in 2015, but the baby suffered health complications and died there three days later.
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Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68014699

17.01.2024

News

30-year jail sentence for miscarriage

aggravated homicide

jailing women for abortion

Lilian in El Salvador

El Salvador – When Abortion Bans Are Too Popular to Overturn

A court may soon rule against El Salvador’s anti-abortion law. But will that make a difference?

APRIL 24, 2023
By Anna-Catherine Brigida

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador—Alba Lorena Santos had just returned home from running errands when her headache began. She saw blood running down her legs. She was five months pregnant.

Santos told her daughter to call their neighbor, a relative by marriage, for help. She fainted shortly after. When she woke up, she remembers the neighbor telling her the baby—a boy—had died.

The next day the neighbor returned and said the police were there to ask some questions. Still sick and feverish, Santos said she was put into a police car and asked: “Why did you kill him? Not even dogs do that.”

Continued: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/24/abortion-bans-popular-el-salvador-latin-america/

Beatriz vs El Salvador: The landmark case that could change the most restrictive abortion laws in the Americas

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is investigating how a 21-year-old, who was diagnosed with lupus and carrying a fetus that would not survive outside the womb, was not allowed to terminate the pregnancy

Noor Mahtani, San Salvador
MAR 23, 2023

“When my daughter was told she was pregnant and had lupus, the doctors said she could not continue with her pregnancy, because both of their lives were in danger. They said that there was only one way she could be saved, but that they couldn’t do it. They couldn’t allow an abortion.” That’s how the mother of Beatriz, a young woman who lost her life after being denied an abortion, began her testimony in the landmark case: Beatriz vs El Salvador.

For the first time, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) is investigating the total ban on abortion in El Salvador, where it is a crime under any circumstances, and punishable by up to 50 years in prison. A favorable ruling for the family of Beatriz (whose real name remains under seal) could ease the most restrictive anti-abortion law on the continent and set a precedent for the region.

Continued: https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-03-23/beatriz-vs-el-salvador-the-landmark-case-that-could-change-the-most-restrictive-abortion-laws-in-the-americas.html

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

Featured

green wave

jailing women for miscarriage

Las 17

Morena Herrera

Nayib Bukele

Women's Equality Center

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/

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 frees three women convicted of abortions

Abortion rights groups say President Nayib Bukele’s government has freed three Salvadoran women who were sentenced to 30 years in prison under the nation’s strict anti-abortion laws after suffering obstetric emergencies

By The Associated Press
25 December 2021

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- President Nayib Bukele's government has freed
three Salvadoran women who were sentenced to 30 years in prison under the
nation's strict anti-abortion laws after suffering obstetric emergencies,
according to abortion rights groups.

Morena Herrera of the Citizen's Group for the Depenalization of Abortion said
late Friday that the group was told one woman would be set free at presidential
order, but when they went to the prison to greet her, three were released.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/el-salvador-frees-women-convicted-abortions-81938352

Abortion ban: El Salvador frees women jailed after miscarriages

The women had been jailed for terms ranging from six to 13 years under some of the region’s harshest anti-abortion laws.

24 Dec 2021
Al Jazeera

Authorities in El Salvador have freed three women who spent between six and 13 years in jail under the country’s harsh anti-abortion laws after suffering miscarriages, a rights group has reported.

The women had lost their fetuses due to “health emergencies” during pregnancy, said the ACDATEE abortion rights group.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/24/abortion-ban-el-salvador-frees-women-jailed-after-miscarriages