One of the arguments in the reasoning behind the court’s decision was that the young woman neglected her maternal duty to “protect her children in every circumstance of life,” ACDATEE reported.
A 23-year-old woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison in El Salvador for aggravated manslaughter for giving birth to a baby girl who survived only a few hours in a latrine, a non-governmental organization said yesterday.
The verdict, which was delivered on June 29, is based only on “male prejudices”, emphasized the Citizens’ Organization for the Decriminalization of Abortion (Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto Terapéutico, Ético y Eugenésico, ACDATEE).
The feminist NGO said it will file an appeal and intends to secure the young woman’s release.
One of the arguments in the reasoning behind the court’s decision was that the young woman neglected her maternal duty to “protect her children in every circumstance of life,” ACDATEE reported.
The 23-year-old – only her first name, Leslie, has been released – is a member of a poor farming family, who lives in a house where there is no electricity or running water.
In June 2020, she gave birth in the toilet without really realizing it. The baby, a girl, was born alive after 37-40 weeks of gestation, but only survived for hours.
“I felt something come out (of my body) but it was dark and I didn’t know what had happened,” Leslie explained at the time. She was taken to a hospital where she was rushed in and received three blood transfusions before being arrested.
Since 1998, the Salvadoran penal code absolutely prohibits abortion, even in cases of rape or danger to the mother’s life: it treats it as a criminal offense punishable by up to 8 years in prison.
But prosecutors and judges often label even involuntary abortions “aggravated premeditated murder,” a charge that carries a sentence of 30 to 50 years in prison.
This is “the first time in history that the heaviest sentence has been imposed after abortion has been fully criminalized,” ACDATEE underlined.
Since 2009, 65 women, most of them poor, have been released after being imprisoned for stillbirth or miscarriage due to complications thanks to the help of ACDATEE and other feminist organizations, but almost ten remain imprisoned and about five face trials for such cases .
Last year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that El Salvador violated the rights of Manuela, who was convicted of “aggravated murder” and died in prison.
In Leslie’s case, the prosecution alleged that the young woman stabbed her child six times. Morena Herrera, head of ACDATEE, countered that Leslie was trying to cut the umbilical cord in the dark and added “this is not the first time prosecutors have made up a story to criminalize women”.
The government of El Salvador has not commented on the case.
RES-EMP
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