Human rights court begins review of high-stakes El Salvador abortion
case
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[March 23, 2023]
SAN JOSE/SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The Inter-American Court of
Human Rights on Wednesday began hearing the historic case of a
Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion in 2013 despite doctors'
calls to terminate her high-risk pregnancy.
The case of the woman, a domestic worker known only 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.
Experts say the court's ruling at the end of the year could have
far-reaching implications on reproductive health across the continent.
"The case will be the first where the high court could rule on the
conventionality of the absolute prohibition of a pregnancy's voluntary
interruption," said Julissa Mantilla, a commissioner for the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights(IACHR).
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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/23/images/ads/current/safetytip_sda_beasonag_2023.png)
They recommended an abortion but would not perform the procedure given
El Salvador's severe prohibition.
Beatriz appealed to the Supreme Court and the IACHR, but the Salvadoran
court rejected her request and in June 2013 she underwent a C-section.
Her daughter died hours later.
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![](../images/032323PIX/health91.jpg)
Delmy, the mother of a woman known only
as Beatriz, speaks during a session of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights (IACHR) where she is calling to condemn El Salvador in
a case brought a decade ago by her daughter, who in 2013 was forced
to carry a pregnancy although the fetus could not survive, in San
Jose, Costa Rica March 22, 2023. Beatriz' health deteriorated and
she died four years later, aged 26. REUTERS/Mayela Lopez
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/23/images/ads/current/beescub_lda_SFARM_2023.png) Beatriz died in 2017 from
complications from a motorcycle accident that occurred en route to a
medical appointment.
The court's public hearing, which is being held in San Jose, Costa
Rica until Thursday, was marked by both anti-abortion protests and
demonstrations of support for Beatriz.
"What I hope (is) that Beatriz's image is restored and that what
happened to Beatriz does not happen again to any other woman," her
mother said.
(Reporting by Alvaro Murillo in San Jose and Nelson Renteria in San
Salvador; Editing by David Gregorio)
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