El Salvador, where a miscarriage can land you in jail

Agence France-Presse
February 17, 2024 7:49AM ET

Lilian was 20 when her newborn baby died of medical complications at a hospital in El Salvador, where abortion is a crime and even the suspicion of one can land a woman in jail. Lilian was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison for "aggravated homicide" after her infant daughter passed away at a public hospital in Santa Ana in the country's west in November 2015.

"I gave birth naturally, but I had a tear in my uterus," recounted Lilian, now 28, who declined to give her full name to protect her family. She was sedated for a procedure to fix the tear, and when she awoke, "I knew my baby was dead." Her nightmare did not end there. "I was first accused of abandonment and neglect, but the prosecution called it 'aggravated homicide' and I was convicted in May 2016," she told AFP.

Last year, a medical report concluded that her baby had died of neonatal sepsis, a finding that resulted in Lilian's early prison release in November with the aid of women's rights NGOs. By then, she had already served eight years behind bars.

"If she (the baby) had been treated in time, she would not have died. I wouldn’t have wasted so many years of my life in prison," said Lilian, whose other daughter was just two when it happened and was raised by her grandparents.

More:
https://www.rawstory.com/el-salvador-where-a-miscarriage-can-land-you-in-jail/


(As you may have noticed, El Salvador has always been A-OK with Washington.)