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El Salvador has one of the toughest anti-abortion laws in the world. A side-effect is that women who suffer miscarriages are sometimes suspected of inducing an abortion - and can even be jailed for murder.

Glenda Xiomara Cruz was crippled by abdominal pain and heavy bleeding in the early hours of 30 October 2012. The 19-year-old from Puerto El Triunfo, eastern El Salvador, went to the nearest public hospital where doctors said she had lost her baby.

It was the first she knew about the pregnancy as her menstrual cycle was unbroken, her weight practically unchanged, and a pregnancy test in May 2012 had been negative.

Four days later she was charged with aggravated murder - intentionally murdering the 38-to-42 week foetus - at a court hearing she was too sick to attend. The hospital had reported her to the police for a suspected abortion.

After two emergency operations and three weeks in hospital she was moved to Ilopango women's prison on the outskirts of the capital San Salvador. Then last month she was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the judge ruling that she should have saved the baby's life.

El Salvador is one of five countries with a total ban on abortion, along with Nicaragua, Chile, Honduras and Dominican Republic. Since 1998, the law has allowed no exceptions - even if a woman is raped, her life is at risk or the foetus is severely deformed.

The study underlines that these women are overwhelmingly poor, unmarried and poorly educated - and they are usually denounced by public hospital staff. Not a single criminal case originated from the private health sector where thousands of abortions are believed to take place annually.

Munoz has worked with 29 of the incarcerated women, helping secure the early release of eight. "Only one intentionally induced an abortion, the other 28 suffered natural obstetric complications but were jailed for murder without any direct evidence," he says.

Last year when Maria Teresa Rivera suffered a miscarriage, she was sentenced to 40 years in jail for aggravated murder.

Like Xiomara, Teresa, 28, had no pregnancy symptoms before sudden severe pain and bleeding, and was reported to police by the public hospital where she had sought emergency help.

The scientific evidence was flimsy, according to Munoz who will soon lodge an appeal, and the prosecution relied heavily on a colleague of hers, who testified that Rivera had said she "might be" pregnant a full 11 months before the miscarriage.

A textile factory worker, she was the family's only breadwinner and her eight-year-old son is now living in dire poverty with his grandmother.

Suicide was the most common cause of death in 2011 among 10-to-19-year-old girls, half of whom were pregnant, according to Health Ministry figures.

It was also the third most common cause of maternal mortality.

Earlier this year, the plight of lupus sufferer Beatriz, 22, attracted international condemnation after the Supreme Court refused to authorise an abortion, even though her life was at risk and the foetus too deformed to be viable.

Beatriz's health deteriorated while the court deliberated for several months. She gave birth at 27 weeks. The baby died within hours.

Individual members of the current FMLN government, particularly Health Minister Maria Isabel Rodriguez, criticised the abortion law during the controversy over Beatriz's case. But the government has made no attempt to repeal or relax the law since coming to power in 2009, as it remains popular with large parts of the conservative population, who revere the Church and pro-life religious groups such as Si a la Vida (Yes to Life).

The Arena Party, which is strongly allied with the Church, is favourite to win next year's General Election.

But Esther Major, Amnesty International's El Salvador expert, describes the country's abortion law as "cruel and discriminatory".

"Women and girls end up in prison for being unwilling, or simply tragically unable, to carry the pregnancy to term," she says.

"It makes seeking hospital treatment for complications during pregnancy, including a miscarriage, a dangerous lottery.

"It cannot be in the interests of society to criminalise women and girls in this way."

Col Hogan wrote:Maybe I'm slow today, but I know flaming liberal Catholics who totally oppose abortion...on moral grounds, not political grounds...

CID1990 wrote: And finally, your title is hard partisan and as such it is wildly inaccurate. Most Conservatives in the US do not want an abortion ban even in the case of rape or jeopardy to the mother. You're no different from whacko righties claiming Obama is going to install Sharia law.

CID1990 wrote: Arena is not heavily allied with the Catholic Church more than any other party in El Sal.

However, the
nation's most affluent families are still predominantly
Catholic, and the most active Catholics join Protestants in
supporting the ruling center-right Nationalist Republican
Alliance (ARENA).

In looking ahead to Legislative Assembly elections,
45.4 percent of Catholics favored ARENA, versus 15.6 percent
support for the FMLN.

Skjellyfetti wrote:

CID1990 wrote: Arena is not heavily allied with the Catholic Church more than any other party in El Sal.

I guess it depends on how you define "allied with"... but, conservative Catholics are ARENA's base.

At least according to your cohorts at the US Embassy in San Salvador.

However, the
nation's most affluent families are still predominantly
Catholic, and the most active Catholics join Protestants in
supporting the ruling center-right Nationalist Republican
Alliance (ARENA).

In looking ahead to Legislative Assembly elections,
45.4 percent of Catholics favored ARENA, versus 15.6 percent
support for the FMLN.

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2005/09/05SA ... R2679.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Skjellyfetti wrote:

CID1990 wrote: And finally, your title is hard partisan and as such it is wildly inaccurate. Most Conservatives in the US do not want an abortion ban even in the case of rape or jeopardy to the mother. You're no different from whacko righties claiming Obama is going to install Sharia law.

Eh. Not really.

A large number of Republicans want abortion to be illegal.... even in ALL cases.




I don't think you could find any group in the US with those kind of numbers supporting strict sharia law... even among muslims.

Skjellyfetti wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:Maybe I'm slow today, but I know flaming liberal Catholics who totally oppose abortion...on moral grounds, not political grounds...

I oppose abortion on moral grounds. But, do not think it should be outlawed. Do your flaming liberal friends think that abortion should be strictly outlawed?

Col Hogan wrote:Maybe I'm slow today, but I know flaming liberal Catholics who totally oppose abortion...on moral grounds, not political grounds...

Are they conks???

And, I figured this thread would turn into Douche1balls playground, so, I thought I'd ask now before the rush...

Col Hogan wrote:Maybe I'm slow today, but I know flaming liberal Catholics who totally oppose abortion...on moral grounds, not political grounds...

Are they conks???

And, I figured this thread would turn into Douche1balls playground, so, I thought I'd ask now before the rush...

AZGrizFan wrote:

Skjellyfetti wrote:
I oppose abortion on moral grounds. But, do not think it should be outlawed. Do your flaming liberal friends think that abortion should be strictly outlawed?

And neither do 90% of conks....but let the generalizing continue.

CID1990 wrote:

Skjellyfetti wrote:
Eh. Not really.

A large number of Republicans want abortion to be illegal.... even in ALL cases.




I don't think you could find any group in the US with those kind of numbers supporting strict sharia law... even among muslims.

Nope. Incorrect.

Nice try with the Kaiser family foundation stats though.

You're the liberal equivalent of the Westboro Baptists and toothless hillbillies in West Jefferson who think Obama is a Muslin.

Own it.

houndawg wrote:

CID1990 wrote:
Nope. Incorrect.

Nice try with the Kaiser family foundation stats though.

You're the liberal equivalent of the Westboro Baptists and toothless hillbillies in West Jefferson who think Obama is a Muslin.

Own it.

You're hyperbole is getting better.

It's almost like you have a personality.

Skjellyfetti wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:Maybe I'm slow today, but I know flaming liberal Catholics who totally oppose abortion...on moral grounds, not political grounds...

I oppose abortion on moral grounds. But, do not think it should be outlawed. Do your flaming liberal friends think that abortion should be strictly outlawed?

Skjellyfetti wrote:Ok. You're right. My posting history certainly suggests that I would likely be in favor of slavery and the oppression of minorities. You got me.



If you disagree with my statement you quoted -- what should be the punishment for women who have abortions if it were to be made illegal?

Col Hogan wrote: Show me in my posting history where I've ever suggested a woman should be made a criminal for having an abortion...

Col Hogan wrote:Please share with us one other thing you are morally opposed to, but don't want outlawed...

Skjellyfetti wrote:Ok. You're right. My posting history certainly suggests that I would likely be in favor of slavery and the oppression of minorities. You got me.



If you disagree with my statement you quoted -- what should be the punishment for women who have abortions if it were to be made illegal?

AZGrizFan wrote: This is rich, coming from the guy who started a thread with the title "Conk social conservative paradise" referencing making every form of abortion illegal.

Skjellyfetti wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote: This is rich, coming from the guy who started a thread with the title "Conk social conservative paradise" referencing making every form of abortion illegal.

Not really. The focus is on miscarriages as suspected abortions.

"El Salvador: Where women may be jailed for miscarrying"

In a country where abortions are illegal... miscarriages have to be investigated as potential abortions.

Social conservatives want abortions to be made illegal. Just trying to show the practicalities of making it so.

Skjellyfetti wrote: Prostitution.
Adultery.
Gluttony.
Being a douchebag.