The Inter-American Court condemns El Salvador for criminalizing a woman who suffered a spontaneous abortion

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court) released on Tuesday the ruling in the case of

in which

strongly condemns the Salvadoran State for the arbitrary criminalization of a woman who tried to access reproductive health services after suffering an obstetric emergency.

“El Salvador is one of the few countries in the world that still penalizes voluntary interruption of pregnancy under any circumstance.

The obstacles that exist in that country to access reproductive health give rise to violations of rights such as life, health, judicial protections and guarantees, freedom from discrimination and gender violence, among others, ”it reads in the sentence.

[The cases of Manuela and Sara in El Salvador are an example of how the prohibition of abortion threatens the lives of the poorest]

The Inter-American Court also confirms that Manuela suffered an obstetric emergency, caused by pre-eclampsia, something that the Salvadoran State questioned.

"The Court emphasizes that obstetric emergencies, because they are a medical condition, cannot automatically give rise to a criminal sanction," explains the statement published by the organizations that collided with the case: the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Feminist Collective for the Local Development, with the support of the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion in El Salvador.

Manuela's story

Manuela couldn't even walk to the hospital.

Her relatives had to wrap her in a hammock and transport her as best they could to the health center located two hours from her home in a rural area on the outskirts of San Salvador.

She was passed out and the bleeding prevented her from moving that February 27, 2008. Moments before, she had felt severe pain in her pelvis that made her run to the latrine of her home, where she suffered an obstetric emergency and expelled the fetus she carried in her womb. . 

Manuela is a Salvadoran who was sentenced to 30 years in prison after presenting an obstetric emergency and losing her baby.

She was reported to have an abortion and was handcuffed while she was still in the hospital.

They charged her with aggravated murder.

MARVIN RECINOS / AFP via Getty Images

Upon arriving at the medical center, the doctor who treated Manuela in 2008 interrogated her in an unforgiving manner.

As he was literally bleeding to death, the doctor asked him about his sex life and insisted on knowing what had been done. 

It took three hours before treating her and immediately the medical staff reported that she had miscarried.

In the midst of the delirium of its severity,

, the police and health personnel who were watching her insulted and denigrated her.

Doctors were so focused on her alleged miscarriage that they did not see a mass on her neck, which later, while in prison, resulted in a diagnosis of cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The obstacles that exist in that country to access reproductive health give rise to violations of rights such as life "

Judgment of the Inter-American Court

Manuela was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated murder shortly after her arrest.

In El Salvador, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, sentences can run up to 50 years in prison.

It is estimated that between the years 2000 and 2019, 181 women suffered obstetric emergencies and were criminalized for alleged abortions or the charge of aggravated homicide.

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"El Salvador must assume its responsibility"

"At last justice was served," reacted Catalina Martínez Coral, regional director of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

"El Salvador must assume its responsibility for Manuela's death, repair her mother, father and children and implement various structural measures so that no woman repeats her case."

"The Court's decision also recognizes rights that must be applied in Latin America and the Caribbean," adds Martínez Coral, a point that indicates the possible impact of this decision in the future in the region.

Morena Herrera, a well-known activist for women's rights and representative of the Feminist Collective for Local Development, said about the sentence:

that has affected women, adolescents, and girls living in poverty ".

"Manuela's story is a sad story, but it represents a change and becomes a path of justice and hope for all women in Latin America and the Caribbean who are criminalized for obstetric events," Herrera concluded.