WHY EL SALVADORS TOTAL BAN ON ABORTION COULD FINALLY CHANGE THIS WEEK

BY LUCY WESTCOTT ON 4/23/17 AT 6:40 AM


For the past 19 years, having a miscarriage could land you a jail term in El Salvador.

That could soon change after the country’s government debates a landmark piece of legislation on Monday that seeks to decriminalize abortion in certain cases.

El Salvador has one of the strictest abortion laws in the world, and the procedure has been illegal in all circumstances since 1998. In many cases, women arrive at a hospital with heavy bleeding, obstetric emergencies or miscarriages and are presumed to have had an abortion. They've been arrested and imprisoned as a result. While the prison sentence for an abortion in El Salvador is two to eight years, there are currently 17 women in prison serving up to 40 years for homicide. All were initially charged with abortion, and later had their charges increased.

“This is a historic moment because we’ve been working for 20 years to lift this ban,” says Sara García, advocacy coordinator at Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto (Citizens Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion). A group from the United Nations Committee on the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recently visited the country and called on the government to legalize abortion and stop detaining women for abortion-related offenses.

More:
http://www.newsweek.com/el-salvador-abortion-ban-reversal-penal-code-587961?piano_t=1