El Salvador – A woman lost her pregnancy but was jailed for abortion. She later died.

El Salvador is committing "gender violence" by criminalizing women with obstetric emergencies, human rights groups argued before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

March 17, 2021 – NBC News

By Albinson Linares, Noticias Telemundo and
Eulimar Núñez

Manuela, a mother of two in rural El Salvador, couldn't even walk to the
hospital.

In February 2008, her relatives had to wrap her in a hammock and transport her
as best they could to the health center two hours away, after a pregnant
Manuela suffered severe pelvic pain, started hemorrhaging, expelled her fetus
and passed out.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/woman-lost-pregnancy-was-jailed-abortion-later-died-rcna440


The abortion cases that could force El Salvador to loosen its ban

Appeal of Salvadoran woman’s 30-year sentence for suspected abortion comes amid ‘green wave’ of decriminalisation in Latin America.

By Anna-Cat Brigida, Al Jazeera
14 Mar 2021

San Salvador, El Salvador – Lawyers are fighting for the release of one of the dozens of women imprisoned for abortion-related crimes in El Salvador in a case that could signal if the country will be swept up by the region’s “green wave” of abortion decriminalisation.

Sara, a Salvadoran woman identified only by her first name to protect her identity, had a miscarriage in 2012 at the age of 22 when she slipped and fell washing laundry. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated homicide but has maintained her innocence.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/14/the-abortion-cases-that-could-force-el-salvador-to-loosen-its-ban


El Salvador abortion laws on trial in case of woman jailed after miscarriage

Demands for justice for Manuela, who died of cancer during 30-year sentence, taken to international court in country first

Joe Parkin Daniels
Fri 12 Mar 2021

When Manuela, a 33-year-old mother of two from rural El Salvador, had a miscarriage in 2008, she did what most women would do: she went to hospital.

There she was handcuffed to her hospital bed, accused of having an abortion, and charged with aggravated homicide.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/12/el-salvador-abortion-laws-on-trial-in-case-of-woman-jailed-after-miscarriage


Chile’s Government Gave Out Flawed Birth Control Pills Which Caused Dozens of Unplanned Pregnancies

By Mary Anne Webber
Mar 04, 2021

The government of Chile has provided hundreds of thousands of defective birth control pills to women that resulted in at least 140 unplanned pregnancies.

The birth control pill packs, which went by the name of Anulette CD, were packaged incorrectly, with the sugar pills or placebo, in the place of the active pills.

Continued: https://www.latinpost.com/articles/149505/20210304/chile-government-flawed-birth-control-pills-unplanned-pregnancies.htm


Defective Birth Control Blamed for Scores of Unplanned Pregnancies in Chile

The public health system delivered, and then quietly recalled, 276,890 potentially flawed packets of birth control pills. At least 140 women believe they got pregnant because of the error.

by Ernesto Londoño, New York Times
March 2, 2021

There had to be a mistake, Melanie Riffo thought, staring in disbelief at the result of her pregnancy test: Positive.

She had been taking her birth control pills without fail, Ms. Riffo said. She and her boyfriend were careful. He’d even been told by doctors that a childhood ailment could have left him infertile.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/world/americas/chile-women-birth-control.html


Argentina Legalizes Abortion, a Milestone in a Conservative Region

The Senate vote on Wednesday was a major victory for Latin America’s growing feminist movement, and its ripple effects are likely to be widespread.

By Daniel Politi and Ernesto Londoño

Dec. 30, 2020

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina on Wednesday became the largest nation in Latin
America to legalize abortion, a landmark vote in a conservative region and a
victory for a grass-roots movement that turned years of rallies into political
power.

The high-stakes vote in the Senate gripped the nation into the early morning,
and the measure’s approval — by a wider-than-expected tally of 38 to 29, with
one abstention — came after 12 hours of often dramatic debate, exposing the
tensions between the long-dominant Roman Catholic Church, whose influence is
waning, and a growing feminist movement.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/world/americas/argentina-legalizes-abortion.html


Argentina to become largest country in Latin America to legalize elective abortion

By Ruby Mellen and Ana Vanessa Herrero
Dec. 29, 2020

Argentine lawmakers voted early Wednesday to legalize elective abortion, a key step in making the predominantly Roman Catholic country the largest in Latin America to allow the procedure.

The legislation championed by President Alberto Fernández was approved by Argentina’s House of Deputies earlier this month. Fernández is now expected to sign it.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/argentina-abortion-legal-fernandez-senate-vote/2020/12/28/4a6d77d4-492a-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html


High hopes for abortion rights to expand in Argentina

Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Nov 18, 2020

BOGOTA, Nov 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A fresh effort to make abortion legal in Argentina has a better chance of success than did previous failed efforts, supporters said on Wednesday, given political change and unprecedented backing by the president in the South American country.

Argentine center-left President Alberto Fernandez presented the bill to Congress this week to legalize abortion, saying reproductive rights are a public health issue.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/crime-pmn/high-hopes-for-abortion-rights-to-expand-in-argentina


The Pandemic And Legal Abortion: What Happens When Access Is Limited?

The Pandemic And Legal Abortion: What Happens When Access Is Limited?

June 8, 2020
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

In April, Johanna Cruz terminated her pregnancy with drugs obtained through a telemedicine consultation.

Abortion is legal in Colombia. And Cruz, a street performer from Chile who was backpacking through the Colombian state of Antioquia, did not feel she was in a position to raise a child. She didn't have a steady income or stable housing. And with stay-at-home orders in place to control the spread of coronavirus, she found herself facing homelessness in the town of San Rafael and unable to travel to Medellin, the nearest city with an abortion clinic.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/08/864970278/lockdown-limits-access-to-legal-abortion-in-colombia-telemedicine-is-now-an-opti


The Coronavirus Outbreak Has Stalled Argentina’s Historic Effort To Legalize Abortion

The Coronavirus Outbreak Has Stalled Argentina’s Historic Effort To Legalize Abortion
President Alberto Fernández promised to make Argentina the largest Latin American country to decriminalize abortion. Then a pandemic

By Travis Waldron, HuffPost US
03/26/20

Three weeks ago, Argentina was on the brink of delivering a massive victory to women’s rights advocates there and across Latin America: New President Alberto Fernández, who won election last year, announced in early March that he planned to make legal abortion the first major priority of his presidency.

With strong majorities in Congress and increasing public support behind the effort, Argentina seemed primed to become just the fourth nation in Latin America to legalize abortion ― and the largest country in the region to enshrine the right into law.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/argentina-abortion-legalization-coronavirus_n_5e7cae9bc5b6cb08a928f364?ri18n=true