Moves to overturn El Salvador’s ban on abortion could be thwarted unless lawmakers work quickly to push through changes before a more conservative group assumes office in May.
Abortion is banned in all circumstances in El Salvador, and women accused of undergoing the procedure can be charged with aggravated homicide and sentenced to up to 50 years in jail. However, a bill proposed last August would legalise abortion in some cases.
Salvadoran legislative deputies serve three years, and if the bill does not pass in the next month, it is doubtful the issue will be taken up by the incoming conservative majority. The total ban on abortion came into force in 1998.
“It’s time-critical,” said Johnny Wright Sol, from the conservative Arena party, whose proposed bill would legalise abortion in cases where the life of a mother is endangered or a minor has been raped. He said the window between now and 1 May, when the new lawmakers take up office, represents “probably the best opportunity the country has had to pass this”.
The bill is not backed by Wright Sol’s party, but its proponents believe it could attract the required 43-vote majority.
Before 1998, abortion was legal to protect the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or where a foetus was unviable. The following year, the constitution was amended to recognise the principle that life begins at conception. Under the new rules, women could be sentenced for abortion and medical professionals jailed for assisting them.
“We have a very paternalistic culture and machismo is quite prevalent in our society. I do believe it’s a cultural thing,” Wright said. “Our future is at stake with regards to how we see women in our society.”
Dozens of women are currently in jail in El Salvador accused of having abortions and charged with aggravated murder when they experienced miscarriages or still births. Many of these women have received sentences of 30 or 40 years in prison.
Last month, Maira Verónica Figueroa Marroquín became the latest woman released from jail. She had served almost half of a 30-year sentence for suffering a late-term miscarriage.
Carmen Teodora Vásquez spent more than 10 years in jail after being convicted of aggravated homicide when she had a miscarriage in 2007. “The Salvadoran laws are so drastic,” she said. “We need to change the law. What is happening in El Salvador is unjust. As women, we are never listened to.”
In addition to Wright’s bill, liberal party leader Lorena Peña is pushing a proposal allowing terminations if the life and health of the mother is at risk, in cases where the foetus is not viable, and in all cases of rape. However, her bill is less likely to attract the support of centrists, and her party only has 31 seats in the 84-member body.
Neither Wright nor Peña ran for re-election in the March polls. Wright is leaving his party and forming a new one, while Peña is serving the third and final consecutive term allowed under her party’s rules.
“If [the reform] is not approved in April, we must try again later,” Peña said. “I am convinced the debate cannot stop now. There cannot be another decade of silence regarding this issue.”
According to figures published last month by the US-based Guttmacher Institute, Latin America and the Caribbean has the highest annual rate of abortion in the world. For every 1,000 women in the region of reproductive age, 44 have had abortions, compared with 17 in northern America, 36 in Asia and 34 in Africa.
Each year, roughly 7 million women living in developing countries are treated for complications due to unsafe abortions, and an estimated 47,000 women die.
Latin America has some of the harshest abortion laws in the world, but liberalisation efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Last year, Chile reversed its total ban on abortion to allow terminations in limited circumstances. In Argentina, congress is to vote on allowing terminations in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. In Brazil, women’s rights advocates have submitted a legal brief to the supreme court calling for terminations to be allowed in the first 12 weeks or pregnancy.
- Reporting for this story was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation as part of its Adelante Latin America Reporting Initiative
