El Salvador violated woman’s rights in high-stakes abortion case, human rights court rules

SAN JOSE/SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador violated a woman’s rights after denying her an abortion in 2013 despite doctors’ calls to terminate her high-risk pregnancy, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights said on Friday.

The case of the woman, a domestic worker known as Beatriz, became a symbol of El Salvador’s blanket ban on abortion, which punishes with prison time those who undergo the procedure and those who perform or assist in it.

The court’s decision found the Salvadoran state “internationally responsible for failing to fulfill its duty of due diligence in ensuring the rights to access effective judicial remedies, personal integrity, health, and privacy” for Beatriz, the court said in a statement.

Doctors diagnosed Beatriz, who suffered from lupus and other ailments, with her second high-risk pregnancy in February 2013, and said the fetus would not survive the pregnancy.

They recommended an abortion but would not perform the procedure given El Salvador’s severe prohibition.