They recast the issue in terms of human rights and women’s health, bringing legal and medical experts to testify in the assembly. “This issue stopped being one for feminists,” Sara García, who led the organizing for the Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion. The failure to change the law leaves El Salvador as one of only six countries in Latin America with a total ban on abortion. But among those countries, the law has been enforced with particular rigidity in El Salvador, drawing criticism from international human rights groups. More than two dozen women are serving sentences as long as 30 years for convictions of aggravated and attempted homicide.

Source: New York Times April 26, 2018 23:28 UTC