El Salvador has been making several headlines for their harsh anti-abortion laws with imprisonments of women suffering miscarriages. However, it looks like the small Central American country has arrived at a turning point.
On January 22, a woman imprisoned for having a miscarriage was pardoned after over seven years in prison.
Reported by Amnesty International, “Guadalupe” was 18 years old when she was sentenced for 30 years in 2007 on suspicion for having an illegal abortion, when in fact it was a miscarriage caused by medical complications.
El Salvador has one of the most severe abortion laws in the world, and as in Guadalupe’s case, when having a miscarriage many women are suspected of having illegal abortions and are therefore charged with homicide.
Guadalupe lost her plea by one vote on January 16 when members of the Legislative Assembly voted on whether to pardon her. Now when her pardoned was granted there has at least been justice for one person, giving hope to many other women in the overcrowded Salvadoran prisons.
Guadalupe is one of 17 women, with similar cases, that will in the comings months come before the Assembly petitioning for a pardon.
Their requests for a pardon is a complicated process which includes a judicial review by the Supreme Court of Justice, following a majority plenary vote in the Legislative Assembly.
With a similar storyline, coming from poor backgrounds with little education, these women and girls are vulnerable to a flawed system that criminalised them as murderers.
With activists campaigning and lawyers working years, in El Salvador and around the world, for decriminalisation of abortion and justice for the imprisoned women, Guadalupe’s release is a sign of justice and hope.
For the Central American country, this is not only a step forward in women’s rights, but also against violations of human rights.
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