A Salvadoran court sentenced a woman who aborted after an obstetric emergency to 50 years in prison for the crime of aggravated homicide, an organization that defends her reported Monday, in one of the countries with one of the most severe laws against abortion.
According to the report of the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, on the night of June 17, 2020, the woman, identified as Lesli, had an emergency while she was in the latrine of her home that caused her to have a precipitous delivery of her fetus. about five months.
The family and neighbors of the young woman, then 19 years old, called the police to take her to a public hospital in the eastern department of San Miguel, the NGO reported.
On June 26, 2020, an investigating judge ordered Lesli’s provisional arrest despite the fact that she was not present at the hearing due to her delicate state of health. In the middle of last week, a court sentenced her to 50 years in prison for the crime of aggravated murder.
“Women’s organizations reject the judicial decision and will appeal the ruling. This is the first time in history that the maximum penalty has been applied since abortion was absolutely criminalized,” the feminist organization said in a statement.
The prosecution and the courts did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Despite the fact that in recent years there has been an advance of the “green tide” in Latin America in search of access to legal and safe abortion, the procedure, without restriction of reasons, is only allowed in a handful of countries.
Along with Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, El Salvador is one of the four Latin American countries that prohibit abortion without exception. Human rights organizations have demanded to repeal the law that prohibits the interruption of pregnancy, but they have not been successful.
However, from 2009 to date, 65 women prosecuted for health emergencies during pregnancy have been released. There are still four behind bars and five prosecuted in freedom, according to figures from NGOs.
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