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A YOUNG WOMAN who was jailed in El Salvador for miscarrying her baby has been granted a pardon by the country’s government.
Guadalupe, who has a five-year-old son, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after suffering a miscarriage in 2007, at the age of 18. She was accused of having an abortion.
Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the decision to release Guadalupe “has undone a terrible injustice”.
This release is a triumph of justice and a result of the tireless work by local human rights activists. This decision must mark a turning point for El Salvador’s retrograde laws which punish women and girls when having medical complications during their pregnancies.
It is time for the authorities to review the sentences against all women imprisoned for pregnancy-related complications and end its criminalisation of women and girls and its heinous anti-abortion ban.
15 women remain imprisoned
El Salvador has one of the strictest abortion laws in the world, criminalising the procdeure on all grounds, even when a woman or girls’ life is in danger and in cases of rape.
Women and girls suspected of having illegal abortions are also often charged with homicide. Following Guadalupe’s release, 15 other women serving prison sentences for ’pregnancy-related complications’ are also seeking pardons. Another woman was conditionally released last year, but is still threatened with prison and also seeking to be pardoned.
The women are serving terms of between 12 and 40 years.
O’Gorman said the biggest obstacle facing the women is “the reluctance of the Government and politicians” to act.
While all agree there is a serious problem, they shamefully abdicate their responsibility to act and instead ignore El Salvador’s human rights obligations. They say the problem is beyond their control, pointing to the constitutional issue and the power of those who oppose abortion.
Amnesty International is currently running a global campaign called My Body My Rights, aimed at stopping governments and others from controlling and criminalising sexuality and reproduction.
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@ Thierry what about the rights of the MOTHER????
It’s pretty clear he doesn’t give a flying f**k about women.
Ratt by name and Ratt by nature!
She’s alive last time I read
She has lost over 7 years of her life. Have you no empathy for that Ratt?
Sounds like there’s a few here in Ireland that El Salvador would suit down to the ground!
Don’t pander to Thierry he is.just winding you all up….
The headline implies she was jailed for having a miscarriage, the article says It was for an illegal abortion. Which is it?
Jailed for abortion but they found out later it was a miscarriage… These countries lock people up on accusations while awaiting trial… It was a miscarriage of justice
She had a miscarriage, which is a spontaneous natural abortion which occurs in one in five pregnancies. She was accused of having an illegal abortion and locked up, probably because some interfering god botherer didn’t like the look of her.
Salem witch trials 21st century style
So to answer your question Neal, it was for procuring an illegal abortion
Sent to prison for a crime she didn’t commit. And here we have the loonies pro-foetus cheering that backwards country.
Ireland ain’t too far away, with 14 year sentences for the same ‘crime’.
Oh Silver…you’re ignorance knows no bounds.
*your
Well that’s the point, it’s a crime she didn’t commit. That’s why she was released and should never have been in jail in the first place. But you can’t say that and also say that she was sent to prison for having a miscarriage. Those are mutually exclusive positions.
Meanwhile, this woman was also sent to prison for committing a “crime” http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19621675. And the pro-foetus loonies will be cheering that and all, amirite?
El Salvador respects the life of the unborn
But f*ck the mother
Yeah, how dare the mother miscarry eh? Sure we’re all just incubators and if we don’t do the job right we should be punished.
Amy, by El Salvador standards we should be jailed before we do something ‘illegal’
If abortion is murder, then obviously a miscarriage is manslaughter and women need to be punished for their failure to stay pregnant.
She’s alive
What about her son who was deprived of his mother for five years, Thierry? You’re all about the kids, right?
Yes women are vessels -incubators under Roman Maritime law. Until we get rid of this and return to common law, we are stuck in medieval times. Most people do not even know about Maritime law and women deemed breeders and berthers for the next batch of slaves.Berthed through the waters of the mother and de live red over to the system once the cord/rope is cut. Then the baby is deemed a person – a corporation and a value placed on him or her.
@Jane
don’t forget that Thierry is really pro-foetus. The son was no longer a foetus, so he couldn’t possibly care any less.
Jane, Mr Ratt – like a lot of so called “pro-life” zealots – only cares about the “pre-born”. Once they come into the world and become a drain on society, Mr Ratt’s sort would rather they were sold on to rich Americans.
Emilio, Daisy, you are of course both correct.
Thierry, do you think she should have been jailed?
Cue the “liberals” calling for a change to the Irish Constitution…
Yes. Absolutely. Repeal the 8th now, we should be ashamed it’s still there.
We don’t need a cue. We’ve been calling for it for decades.
Anti abortion law … Brilliant country..
Off you go so.
We’ll have a whip-around for a plane ticket for you, Thierry.
You agree it is a miscarriage of justice but still treat them like heroes. Bad troll trolling badly
Why should I go your the one not happy with Ireland’s laws, why don’t you go to England
Pity you weren’t aborted or swallowed.what a waste of a human life!!!
Thierry, One woman miscarried because she had Hodgkins. She was jailed because her neighbours suspected her of aborting her pregnancy. She was locked up, not treated and literally wasted away until she died. After her death, medical examiners said she did not abort her child, it was a result of the illness thst dhe had but nobody examined her physical health.
What about that poor woman? She’s not alive. Should the state be done for murder due to their neglect and refusal to investigate properly?
. Should the state be done for murder due to their neglect and refusal to investigate properly?
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
“Pity you werent aborted or swallowed”
Ah, the ever-reasonable voice of the tolerant
have your say