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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Harriet Barber

Jailed for losing a pregnancy: how progress on El Salvador’s harsh anti-abortion law is unravelling

Women in white uniforms crowd up against blue-barred doors.
Women inmates stand at the doors to their cells at the Ilopango Women’s Prison, El Salvador. Photograph: Tariq Zaidi

Her ordeal began with stomach cramps; 19 years old and training to be a nurse, she knew something was wrong. At the hospital she waited for hours in the emergency department. She had suffered an obstetric emergency.

Under El Salvador’s legal framework, emergencies including miscarriages and stillbirths place women under criminal suspicion. She lost the baby and doctors alerted the police. She was arrested and handcuffed.

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