Salvadoran Sara Rogel, sentenced to 30 years in prison for an abortion classified as aggravated homicide, was released from prison on Monday after a court granted her early parole. Ms Rogel, 28, was released from a women's prison on the outskirts of the town of Zacatecoluca, 56 km southeast of San Salvador. In this country, abortion is totally prohibited. Sara Rogel was welcomed by members of her family and by Karla Vaquerano, lawyer for the Citizen Group for the decriminalization of therapeutic, ethical and eugenic abortion (ACDATEE), who supported the young woman.
On Friday, the Attorney General's office announced that it would not appeal the decision of the court that granted early parole a few days earlier. The events that brought her to prison occurred in 2012. Ms. Rogel, then a 20-year-old student and eight months pregnant, slipped washing clothes in the backyard of her home in Santa Cruz Analquito, 44 km east of San Salvador, according to ACDATEE. Her family found her unconscious and rushed her to the hospital in the town of Cojutepeque, where she was suspected of having performed an abortion. She was immediately imprisoned by the authorities. A court charged her with aggravated homicide and sentenced her to 30 years in prison, but, after several legal interventions by ACDATEE, the justice reduced the sentence to 10 years in prison,which were due to expire in October 2022.
The Salvadoran Penal Code prohibits abortion in all cases and provides for sentences of up to eight years in prison. However, prosecutors and judges classify cases of abortion, including involuntary, as “aggravated homicide”, punishable by up to 50 years in prison.
