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The Fight for a New World

Vanessa Vaquerano
Writing 2
Josh Mehler
November 10, 2014

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Imagine you are woman living in El Salvador. Imagine you are pregnant with
your second child. Imagine you have a miscarriage one night and are sent to the hospital.
Imagine you wake up to police investigators accusing you of terminating your pregnancy.
Imagine you being sentenced to thirty years in prison for this. If youre name is Cristina
Quintanilla, you dont have to imagine.1 Like Quintanilla and many others, they dont
have to imagine. Its a reality for them. Currently, El Salvador has one of the strictest
abortion laws in the world; its banned completely. Women in El Salvador have been
restricted from their human rights completely for years. Over the years, the abortion law
has gone under scrutiny for their inhumane rulings. As other countries in different parts
of the world began to liberate abortion laws, El Salvador fails to make progress. This is
not to say it has to stay this way. Activism, along with its support, plays a crucial role in
the progression of decriminalizing abortion laws in El Salvador.
Much of these laws are based on religious fundamentalism. El Salvador is
predominantly a Catholic nation2 so its no surprise that they follow the Churchs
position. The strict abortion laws can be traced to Pope Paul IVs encyclical called the
Human Vitae. The letter states its opposition to the most effective methods of
contraception.3Though, abortion hasnt always been a crime in El Salvador. It wasnt
until 1998 that a penal code was made that eliminated all legal grounds for abortion and

Beaubien, Jason, and John Poole. "Why A Teenage Mom Was Jailed In El Salvador
After A Stillbirth." NPR. September 22, 2014.
2
Cheney, David M..2005. Statistics by Country: by Percentage Catholic, 1996-2005.
doi: v2.3.4
3
McCoy, Terry, ed. The Dynamics Of Population Policy in Latin America. Cambridge,
Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1974.

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penalized new forms of inducing abortion.4 A year later, El Salvadors government
passed a constitutional amendment that protected the right to life from the moment of
conception.5With such strict laws, the consequences are high. If convicted of purposely
terminating ones pregnancy, the defendant can face up to 8 years in prison under the
nations current law.6 This is the case even if a woman didnt actually self-induce the
pregnancy. Unfortunately, the Salvadorian government often convicts women for
aggravated homicide where women are sentenced to up fifty years in prison.7 The harsh
penalties lead innocent women to face jail time or in other cases, lead them to serious
health complications.
There are many stories involving abortion prosecutions. Like stated earlier,
Quintanilla is not alone. There have been numerous publicized prosecutions against
women. In 2010, a woman named Veronica became pregnant but was not aware of it at
the time because she continued to get her period and never felt discomfort. One day, she
suffered a head injury after fainting that sent her to the emergency room. She was
convicted of aggravated homicide for the death of her child and ultimately sentenced to
30 years in prison. As of early 2013, she still resides in Ilopango prison.8 Similarly there
was another case where a student in high school went to a public hospital due to loss of
blood. Like, Veronica, she was not aware she was pregnant until she experienced the

Persecuted: Political Process and Legislation on Abortion in El Salvador. Center for

Reproductive Rights, 2001.
5
Ibid., 11-12.
6
On the Brink of Death: Violence Against Women and the Abortion Law in El Salvador.
London: Amnesty International, 2014.
7
Ibid., 11-13
8
Marginalized, Persecuted, and Imprisoned: The Effects of El Salvadors Total
Criminalization of Abortion. United States of America: Center for Reproductive Rights,
2014.

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obstetric emergency. Police also accused her of committing an abortion. She was sent to
jail just fifteen days after checking in to the hospital. Fortunately for her, she was let go
in January 2010, due to lack of evidence.9
A more pro-found story that has definitely sparked controversy was the case of
Manuela.10 From the moment Manuela arrived at the hospital seeking emergency
health care, slipping in and out of consciousness and hemorrhaging, doctors treated her as
if she had attempted an abortion and immediately called the police, stated the center for
Reproductive Rights.11 Manuela was sentenced to thirty years in prison while being
denied the opportunity to meet with a lawyer. The judge who was overseeing the case
stated, to the shock of most, that her main priority shouldve been to save her baby,
which she failed to do. While in prison, it was discovered that her visible tumors were
linked to Hodgkins lymphoma. The disease was most likely the cause for the death of
her child. On top of not been given the right to a lawyer, Manuela was not given
appropriate medical treatment. She died in prison due to the lack of treatment.
More recently, the country's supreme court prohibited an abortion for Beatriz,
who suffers from lupus and kidney failure and whose lawyers said the pregnancy was
threatening her life.12 After a last minute grant to allow for a C-section, Beatriz survived
after being on the brink of death. These cases have definitely caught the attention of
people and more importantly, human rights activists and groups.

Ibid., 11-12
Center for Reproductive Rights Files Case Revealing the Horrifying Reality of El
Salvador's Ban on Abortion. Center for Reproductive Rights. March 21, 2012. Accessed
November 4, 2014.
11
Ibid.
12
"Baby Born to El Salvador Woman Denied Abortion Dies after C-section." The
Guardian. June 4, 2013. Accessed November 10, 2014.
10

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Many coalitions and campaigns have ignited since the criminalized abortion laws.
Many come from El Salvador and others come from different parts of the world.
Regardless, these groups have the potential to create change for the women in the
country. Citizens Association for the Decriminalization of Abortion, a local campaign
group in El Salvador, advocates for the legalization of abortion in El Salvador.13 They are
currently one of the most active groups fighting for reform. Many of their campaigns
support women who have been targeted by the Salvadorian Penal codes. Their ultimate
goal is to present these abortion cases to national court level. For instance, in April of last
year, the group presented Beatrizs case before the Inter-American Court for Human
Rights. Along with this story, Womens Link Worldwide, an international non-profit
organization that also works to stimulate womens rights, created a fund collection for
Beatriz.14 Together, along with the support of doctors, they helped change the ruling for
Beatriz and allowed for a cesarean section to save her life.
Many organizations also focus primarily on awareness. The Feminist Collective
for Local Development is another feminist organization hoping to create change. They
carry out workshops and ultimately educate women on the prevention of teen pregnancy.
The group built the Legal-based, a network to raise awareness of the need to change the
abortion laws in El Salvador. The movements lead to the creation of the September 28
campaign- Day for the Decriminalization of abortion in Latin America and the
Caribbean. The campaign, undertaken by the International Campaign for Womens Right
to Safe Abortion, addresses numerous issues in relation to abortion: as a public health
13

Lakhani, Nina. "El Salvador: Where Women May Be Jailed for Miscarrying." BBC
News. October 17, 2013. Accessed November 2, 2014.
14
Staff, RHRC. "Urgent: Help Beatriz Fight for Her Life." RH Reality Check. May 30,
2013. Accessed November 9, 2014.

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concern, because of its impact on womens health; as a matter of human rights and
democracy15 In addition to these global campaigns and organizations, Amnesty
International begins to show the influence these groups obtain.
Amnesty Internationals website states that their vision is for every person to
enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other
international human rights standards.16 In their recent report, On the Brink of Death:
Violence Against Women and the Abortion Ban in El Salvador, the group outlines the
severity of the abortion ban. The report calls on the Salvadoran government to take
legislative action in eliminating the current law. They urge the country to grant legal and
abortion to women especially in cases of rape or to preserve the life of an individual.
Amnesty International has gained the support from twelve other countries that are also
concerned about the strict laws. The support has also led to the United Nations Universal
Periodic Review (UPR)17 confrontation with the nation. Just like Amnesty International,
UPR has given strong suggestions for reform in El Salvador. El Salvador will have until
March 2015 to consider which laws to adopt.18
On the other hand, the issue doesnt come with out obstacles. As long as there are
human rights activists and other campaigns in support for the decriminalization of
abortion, there will also be those who support the law. Advocates of El Salvador's

15

Ouseley, Laura, Olivia Kirkpatrick, Francesca Romita, and Virginia Dellavalle.

"Maternal Health, Reproductive Rights and the Criminalisation of Abortion." Central
America Women's Network. September 2012.
16
Amnesty International. On the Brink of Death: Violence Against Women and the
Abortion Law in El Salvador.
17
UPR is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council that reviews human rights
obligations in member states of the United Nations.
18
Countries Urge El Salvador to Change Repressive Abortion Laws. Amnesty
International. October 28, 2014.

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abortion ban include numbers in the Catholic Church, National Republic Alliance party
and the influential lobby group S a la Vida (Yes to Life).19 With a predominately
Catholic country, most people would argue that its going to be difficult to reform the
current laws. Impossible, some will say, but is it really adequate to assume reform is
unlikely? Advocates against El Salvadors legislation would say no. The Civil Rights
Movement, Affirmative action, Gay Marriage Rights and the liberation of abortion laws
in dozens of countries prove that it is not possible to change legislative laws.20 Change is
just a matter of time. Change is inevitable when there are people who take are dedicated
in taking action.
On this note, Ill end it off with a part of one of my favorite speeches. In the
1940s, Charlie Chaplin produced a satirical piece on fascism. In his speech Chaplin
exclaimed:
You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make
this life a wonderful adventure. Then- in the name of democracy- let us use that
power- let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world- a decent world [] in the
name of democracy, let us all unite!21
Now, more than ever the peoples voices are prevalent. With technology and resources
alike, people are able to educate other about issues just like the women in El Salvador are
currently facing. Ultimately, it is up to the people to unite and create a better world.
Promoting and supporting reform for the decriminalization of abortion laws is a much
need boost. Just look at the twelve nations calling on El Salvador. With out campaigns

19

Provost, Claire. "El Salvador: Meet the Women Who Dare to Challenge the Antiabortion State." The Guardian. April 17, 2014.
20 A map from "The World's Abortion Laws 2014." The World's Abortion Laws
2014. January 1, 2013.
21

Chaplin, Charlie, Paulette Goddard. 1940. The Great Dictator.

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like the Citizens Association for the Decriminalization of Abortion, its hard to see if
Beatriz would have still lived to this day. Activism comes in many forms. Whether one is
actively campaigning, boycotting or simply promoting a sticker on their laptop, the
support that is gathered from each of these groups creates progress and change. If the
world continues scrutinize and challenge the abortion ban in El Salvador, the nation will
have no choice than to adopt new laws. Time will tell. Stay tuned for El Salvadors
response in March.

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Reflection
Writing Project 2 has definitely given me my fair share of headaches. For one, i found
it difficult for me to even find a good research question I actually wanted to write about.
Most of the research questions I developed were often too broad to write a paper on.
After finally finding a topic of interest that was specific enough, the next difficult issue I
had was changing my focus. I think one of the key terms to describe this research paper is
patience. Towards the beginning of the process I found myself rushing what I wanted to
write about. I thought, hey maybe ill focus more on the laws in El Salvador or hmmm
should I focus the legislative systems principles that are based on the Roman Catholic
Church? Should I focus on the women that are being harmed from the ban on abortion?
Or should I focus on what organizations are doing to make a change? I think the beauty
of a research project is that your main focus doesnt just come to you in a snap. The point
of a research project is to, well, research and learn about new issues regarding the subject.
Once I acquired more information on the abortion laws in El Salvador, I found the perfect
thesis I wanted to talk about. Patience and time is definitely a key determinant in this
writing process. If I were to pick another word to describe this writing process I would
have to choose meticulous- to be careful and precise. In order to write this paper I had to
be careful. Careful in the way that I had to annotate anything I used in my paper. This
was probably the most overwhelming part for me. Often times I would find a resource
that Id use in my paper, and then totally forget to annotate it. It would especially suck
when I lost the resource. I would just discard what I had written and just find a whole
different source to cite from, which was super unfortunate for me. I will admit that this
was definitely some good practice. Towards the end of the process I felt more
comfortable using footnotes and annotating. I also had to make sure I was being precise. I
had to focus on supporting my thesis and not stray away from it. There was a couple
times where I felt like I was going off topic. For example when I started talking about the
different campaigns. I think once I started talking about the different campaigns globally,
rather than just in El Salvador, I started to throw myself off. I do think I did a decent job
of keeping it short and using it to introduce Amnesty International, which is hugely
involved in finding ways to change the laws in the country. Overall, I think I do okay on
not going off topic. If I were to make any revisions, I would try to add more details on
what campaigns and organizations are doing and go more in depth on how support leads
to reform. To do this, I would probably add statistics on how support of activism leads to
change. On the other hand, this might be too much.
In conclusion, research papers are pretty cool once I got past the small things. Not only
did I get to learn about a certain topic but I have also learned how to use different sources
to my advantage in supporting my claims. Its also nice because I was able to develop my
own sort of claim/argument with out it being an opinion piece.

Bibliography
"Baby Born to El Salvador Woman Denied Abortion Dies after C-section." The
Guardian. June 4, 2013. Accessed November 10, 2014.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/04/baby-el-salvador-womanabortion-dies.
Beaubien, Jason, and John Poole. "Why A Teenage Mom Was Jailed In El Salvador After
A Stillbirth." NPR. September 22, 2014. Accessed October 30, 2014.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/09/22/320323339/why-a-teenagemom-was-jailed-in-el-salvador-for-a-miscarriage.
"Center for Reproductive Rights Files Case Revealing the Horrifying Reality of El
Salvador's Ban on Abortion." Center for Reproductive Rights. March 21, 2012.
Accessed November 4, 2014. http://reproductiverights.org/en/press-room/centerfor-reproductive-rights-files-case-revealing-the-horrifying-reality-of-el-salvador.
Chaplin, Charlie, Paulette Goddard. 1940. The Great Dictator. [United States]: Charles
Chaplin Film Corp.
Cheney, David M..2005. Statistics by Country: by Percentage Catholic, 1996-2005. doi:
v2.3.4
"Countries Urge El Salvador to Change Repressive Abortion Laws." Amnesty
International. October 28, 2014. Accessed October 25, 2014.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/countries-urge-el-salvador-change-repressiveabortion-laws-2014-10-28.
Lakhani, Nina. "El Salvador: Where Women May Be Jailed for Miscarrying." BBC
News. October 17, 2013. Accessed November 2, 2014.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24532694.
Marginalized, Persecuted, and Imprisoned: The Effects of El Salvadors Total
Criminalization of Abortion. United States of America: Center for Reproductive
Rights, 2014.
McCoy, Terry, ed. The Dynamics Of Population Policy in Latin America. Cambridge,
Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1974.
On the Brink of Death: Violence Against Women and the Abortion Law in El Salvador.
London: Amnesty International, 2014.
Ouseley, Laura, Olivia Kirkpatrick, Francesca Romita, and Virginia Dellavalle.
"Maternal Health, Reproductive Rights and the Criminalisation of Abortion."

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Central America Women's Network. September 1, 2012. Accessed November 9,
2014. http://www.cawn.org/assets/Maternal Health paper_final.pdf.
Provost, Claire. "El Salvador: Meet the Women Who Dare to Challenge the Anti-abortion
State." The Guardian. April 17, 2014. Accessed October 31, 2014.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/apr/17/beatriz-caseresistance-el-salvador-abortion-law
Staff, RHRC. "Urgent: Help Beatriz Fight for Her Life." RH Reality Check. May 30,
2013. Accessed November 9, 2014.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/05/30/urgent-help-beatriz-fight-for-her-life/.
"The World's Abortion Laws 2014." The World's Abortion Laws 2014. January 1, 2013.
Accessed November 11, 2014. http://worldabortionlaws.com/map/.