According to a report by El Salvadors Ministry of Health and the United Nations Population Fund, over 13,000 girls became pregnant in 2015, 1,400 of whom were between the ages of 10 and 14. Abortion in El Salvador has been illegal since 1998.
Abortion has been criminalized in all circumstances in El Salvador since 1998, even when the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or where the life of the pregnant woman or girl is at risk. Its influence led to a 1998 constitutional amendment asserting that life begins at the point of conception and the total ban on abortion that followed. More than 23 women are currently in prison in El Salvador for similar abortion-related crimes. Members of various brotherhoods participate in the Los Cristos Procession as part of Holy Week celebrations in Izalco, El Salvador, April 13. El Salvador has some of the worlds most draconian abortion laws, with a total ban on the procedure. According to the Ministry of Health, there were 19,290 abortions in El Salvador Adapted from Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, From El Salvador to Oklahoma by Michelle Oberman (Beacon Press, 2018). In El Salvador, the person assisting or facilitating birth or obstetric emergencies can also be prosecuted. El Salvador: Critical opportunity to put an end to total criminalization of abortion. 4. For more than 20 years, abortion has been banned in El Salvador and scores of women have been jailed. However, the Catholic Church successfully lobbied to ban abortion in all circumstances. At the hospital, the police were contacted because of El Salvadors total ban on abortion, Manuela and her family were interrogated , and Manuela was charged, convicted, and sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated murder based upon the claim that she had actually had an abortion. The Context surrounding El Salvadors Total Criminalization of Abortion El Salvador has one of the worlds most restrictive abortion laws. Sociologist Jocelyn Viterna analyzes the cultural dynamics that transformed a pro-life movement into a political system that revoked womens rights. This evolution is presented through three moments: the first centers on the legal actions that feminist movements orchestrated in the mid-2000s around the Beatriz case. El Salvadors 1997 law the prohibiting all forms of abortion made it a criminal offence for a woman to have an abortion, or for anyone to assist her in procuring or carrying out an abortion. 3. Unlike in many other Latin American countries, El Salvador does not permit abortion in SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- El Salvadors congress voted yet again Wednesday to uphold the countrys total ban on abortions. Abortion law is so strict that even a miscarriage can be considered an intentional abortiona crime that can result in decades in jail. This loss of freedom, however, is equally great for pregnant women who develop pregnancy-related complications, as The ruling leftist FMLN party has tried to overturn El Salvadors total ban on abortion in place since 1997 and allow the procedure in cases of rape or a risky pregnancy. In El Salvador, where a total ban on abortion leads to an immediate suspicion of women whose pregnancies do not end with a healthy baby, Ms. Vsquez was Womens rights A minority of healthcare workers in El Salvador have opposed the abortion ban by continuing access to medical abortions. Reprinted with permission from Beacon Press. Until that point, abortion was illegal except in cases involving risks to maternal life, severe fetal anomaly, The Manuela case, like the landmark Roe vs. Wade case of 1973 in the U.S., could have a major impact on El Salvadors abortion policies. More than 23 women are currently in prison in El Salvador for similar abortion-related crimes. The law, however, does not seem to be enforced against women, since official reports indicate that no women are currently imprisoned for induced abortion in El Salvador, even in the rare event of a conviction. Hospitals are becoming crime scenes. on April 20, 1998, a new penal code took effect, eliminating situations in which, abortion previously had been permitted, such as in cases where the pregnancy posed a risk to a womans life, in Because of the ban, clandestine abortions are common. For health care providers who assist in In my view, understanding these cases requires going beyond the debate about El Salvadors abortion law and grasping a larger phenomenon at play. Abortion is a crime in El Salvador, with no exceptions even in cases of rape or incest, where the pregnancy endangers the pregnant womans life or health, or in cases of severe fetal impairment. It is a country where the Catholic Church holds considerable political and social power. In 2010, while incarcerated, Manuela died. Since 1998, El Salvador has upheld some of the strictest abortion laws in the world, denying women the right to terminate their pregnancy even if their life is in danger. The strict laws have fueled an underground abortion economy in El Salvador. El Salvador's total ban on abortion: the facts - Amnesty International. El Salvador banned abortion in all circumstances in 1998. The article focuses on the evolution of socio-legal mobilization regarding abortion in El Salvador over the last two decades. A decision And women cannot access abortion even to Many women and girls have lost their lives or been imprisoned due to the total abortion ban. Other estimates put that number as the annual average. In El Salvador, the clock is ticking towards a May 1, 2018, deadline for reform that would decriminalize abortion in two situations: When the life of the pregnant woman is Prior to 1998, El Salvadors criminal code did allow for these exceptions. Last year the National Civil Police recorded that 16 women and girls were charged with the crime of abortion, six of them were under 17 years old at the time of the alleged offences. Women found guilty of terminating their pregnancies may be sentenced to long jail terms. El Salvador is one of just seven countries that criminalizes abortion in all circumstances including rape, incest, non-viable fetuses, and threats to the life of the mother. El Salvador has one of the worlds most restrictive abortion laws, banning abortion in all circumstances, even when the pregnancy poses a risk to a womans life, health or in cases of rape. The criminalization of abortion arising from the Constitution, which is a total ban on abor- tion even if a womans life is at serious risk, has deprived all women of their freedom to decide about their own bodies. Next week El Salvadors total abortion ban will be at the center of a case in front of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In El Salvador, the country with the highest murder rate in the world and the highest rate of femicide (the deliberate killing of a woman because she is a woman), it seems disproportionate to devote resources to the criminal and social persecution of women and girls for a spontaneous or induced abortion, rather than to the men who commit murder. El Salvadors total ban on abortion has been condemned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The El Salvador based non-profit organization, Alliance for Womens Health and Life, reportedly documented an estimated 147 cases in which women were charged with the crime of having an abortion, between 2000 and 2014. NEW. Under the current legislation, women convicted of having an abortion can face between two and eight years in prison. The countrys absolute ban puts women and adolescent girls at risk as many of them may resort to illegal and clandestine abortions. They are often subsequently charged with homicide or aggravated homicide. Since 2009, more than 50 Salvadoran women who had been sentenced to up to 40 years in prison on suspicions of abortion and aggravated homicide have regained their freedom as In El Salvador, abortion is illegal with no exceptionsincluding to save the life of the mother. As a The total abortion ban holds particularly difficult consequences for pregnant girls and young women. The Associated Press. This loss of freedom, however, is equally great for pregnant women who develop pregnancy-related complications, as The criminalization of abortion in El Salvador denies women their rights to control their bodies and to access reproductive health services that would enable them to enjoy healthy lives.5 This paper analyzes El Salvadors absolute abortion ban Shortly after passing a total abortion ban in 1997, El Salvador became the first Latin American nation to incarcerate women who suffered stillbirths and other obstetrical emergencies for the crime of homicide. Women who suffer miscarriages, still-births or other pregnancy-related complications in El Salvador are routinely suspected of having an abortion, which is banned in all circumstances. El Salvador is one of only nine countries in the world that has a total ban on abortion. Since 98 El Salvador has incarcerated 140 women under its total abortion ban. I n 1998, El Salvador passed a law banning abortion under all circumstances. Al Jazeera has also reported that 600 women have been criminally investigated since the law went into effect in 1998. Between 2005 and 2008, the Ministry of Health counted 19,290 underground abortions. The Amnesty International General Secretary will visit us to launch the Campaign My Body, My Right and a report on the situation of women's human rights and the criminalization of abortion in El Salvador. Abortion has been banned in El Salvador since 1998, and more than 140 women accused of terminating their pregnancy have been jailed with sentences of up to 35 years. El Salvadors criminal statutes, like those of at least twenty-three other Latin American countries, do punish elective abortion. 5. El Salvador is a country that has some of the most prohibitive anti-abortion laws in the world. The criminalization of abortion in El Salvador denies women their rights to control their bodies and to access reproductive health services that would enable them to enjoy healthy lives.5 This paper analyzes El Salvadors absolute abortion ban as a violation of international human rights law. The criminalization of abortion arising from the Constitution, which is a total ban on abor- tion even if a woman's life is at serious risk, has deprived all women of their freedom to decide about their own bodies.