El Salvador violated woman’s rights in high-risk pregnancy case, court rules

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SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA / SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR — 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 (IACHR) said 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, perform it or assist with 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.

Doctors diagnosed Beatriz, then 22 and suffering 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.

Beatriz appealed to the Supreme Court, which rejected her request. In June 2013, she underwent a cesarean section, and her daughter died hours later.

Beatriz died in 2017 from complications due to a motorcycle accident that occurred en route to a medical appointment.

The IACHR said there was not a proven causal link between Beatriz's death in 2017 and the medical care during her second pregnancy in 2013, so it did not rule on state responsibility for her death.

In its ruling, the IACHR ordered El Salvador to implement measures such as creating guidelines and protocols for medical and judicial personnel to ensure legal clarity and proper care in similar cases.

"The lack of legal certainty regarding the handling of Beatriz's case led to the bureaucratization and judicialization of the necessary medical care, resulting in multiple consequences," the IACHR's statement said.

The El Salvador president's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a press conference on Friday, Beatriz's mother, known publicly only as Delmy, celebrated the ruling alongside Beatriz's brother and women's rights activists.

"I know it has not been easy, but the state has the duty and the right to respond to the measures that the court has imposed, and for me, it is a great triumph," she said.

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