Lawyer vows to fight woman’s 30 year abortion jail sentence

BOGOTA: A lawyer in El Salvador representing a woman whose 30-year prison sentence under the country’s strict abortion law was upheld by judges, said he would fight to get the conviction quashed.

Teodora Vasquez was jailed in 2008 for aggravated murder after being convicted of intentionally inducing an abortion, which is a crime under any circumstances in the country.

With Vasquez in handcuffs, judges upheld the conviction on Wednesday in a San Salvador courtroom.

Vasquez, 37, and her lawyer, Victor Hugo Mata, said she had suffered a stillbirth. She has spent 10 years in prison.

El Salvador is one of six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where abortion is totally banned, even in cases of rape, incest, when the woman’s life is in danger or the foetus is deformed.

The case has revived debate about the ban. Vazquez is among 27 women who are behind bars for abortion-related crimes who actually suffered miscarriages, stillbirths or pregnancy complications, the Citizen Group for the Decriminalisation of Abortion said.

Mata said the decision could not be appealed. Instead a cassation would be lodged to consider if the law had been applied correctly rather than re-examine the evidence.

Lawmakers introduced a bill last year to ease the blanket prohibition and allow abortion under certain circumstances. No date has been set for the bill’s debate. – Reuters