Abortion is totally criminalized in El Salvador, one of the most restrictive laws continues to be upheld, with serious consequences for women and pregnant women.We are in a context where, due to this total prohibition, there are women who have faced criminalization, there are women who have been persecuted and have been denied basic and fundamental rights such as the right to health and the right to life. The restrictions also raise an erroneous idea that if abortion is criminalized, it does not exist, when it is a daily reality in the life and history of women.
Beatriz, the woman who moved the world, Beatriz, the woman who challenged,
questioned, denounced and dared.
It is the first woman to seek an abortion in El Salvador's public health systemShe faced all the obstacles of a system that is misogynistic, she faced the obstacles of the patriarchal Salvadoran justice system, she was denied this abortion, even though her life was at risk, even though she was carrying a fetus that had no brain, an anancephalic fetus. She was kept waiting 81 days. 81 days where anguish and desperation were daily, where the stigma and blaming by the most conservative groups was evident.
After these 81 days of unnecessary waiting, she underwent a termination of pregnancy that resulted in a hysterectomy, intensive care, blood loss and a situation that, in her and her mother's own words, Beatriz was never the same again.She sued the Salvadoran state because of the cruel and degrading treatment she experienced due to the absolute criminalization of abortion.
Their case reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and we are waiting for the Court to condemn the Salvadoran State on March 22 and 23, we expect measures of non-repetition and one of these measures is the decriminalization of abortion, so that this history does not repeat itself.We know that there are more Beatrices, more women who face this state violence, we expect reparation measures for her family, for all the damage that this meant and because justice for Beatriz is justice for everyone.
The importance of this ruling lies in its mandatory nature for the Salvadoran State, as well as for all States that are part of the American Convention on Human Rights, and in this sense it will be a fundamental precedent for all of us who fight in Central America, where the most restrictive countries in terms of abortion are concentrated: Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and El Salvador. It will be a precedent to move forward and create conditions for transformation in other countries in the region.We know that the fight for justice for Beatriz is hope for all of us.
Sara Garcia
Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion in El Salvador
