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full screen Women protest El Salvador’s abortion laws and demand the release of women sentenced to long prison terms for having abortions. Archive image. Photo: Salvador Melendez/AP/TT
A 28-year-old woman in El Salvador was sentenced in 2015 to 30 years in prison on suspicion of having an abortion. Now, after being detained for seven years, the woman has been released.
The woman gave birth to a daughter with heart problems who died in hospital after three days. Prosecutors charged her with her daughter’s death and with failing to take care of the fetus during the pregnancy.
The public service channel BBC writes that the decision on release was based on the fact that she was in a vulnerable situation in the hospital when she lost her child.
Since 1998, there has been a total ban on abortion in El Salvador – even in cases of danger to the mother’s life, after rape or in case of severe birth defects. The country thus has one of the world’s strictest abortion laws.
Women found guilty of abortion are often sentenced to between two and eight years in prison. In cases where the offense is considered extra serious, the minimum sentence is 30 years in prison.