THE COUNTRY WHERE YOU CAN BE JAILED FOR A MISCARRIAGE
Imelda Cortez, 20, was raped by her stepfather, then falsely accused of trying to kill the baby he fathered. Last month, she was finally freed from jail. But 24 other women remain in prison in El Salvador, simply for having miscarriages or stillbirths, as
Last month there was some rare good news for the women of El Salvador, one of the worst countries in the world to be a woman: a rape survivor facing 20 years in prison for the attempted murder of her newborn baby – a crime she always denied committing – was declared innocent and freed from custody.
Imelda Cortez, 20, who had been in jail for 18 months after giving birth to a baby fathered by her elderly stepfather, went home on 17 December to hold her daughter for the very first time. The shock verdict was handed down after an international campaign to save Imelda from a travesty of justice. Abortion is illegal in all circumstances in the Central American country. There are no exceptions, and no sex education in schools. The total ban has led to dozens of young, poor, mainly single women jailed for murder and attempted murder after having suffered a medical complication such as a miscarriage or stillbirth.
I’ve been reporting on these women’s stories for more than five years, and every single one is cruel and tragic. But Imelda’s story is undoubtedly the cruellest. In April 2017, Imelda felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her stomach. She rushed to the outside latrine at her family’s rural shack in western El Salvador, and almost passed-out as the pain struck again.
Imelda, then 18, assumed she was suffering a severe bout of colitis, a chronic bowel disease that causes painful cramps. But as she squatted over the toilet, she saw lots of blood and shouted out for help. Imelda’s mother rushed her to the hospital, where the A&E doctor suspected an abortion, and called the police. The police discovered the newborn, healthy and breathing, in the unlit makeshift
latrine, and took her to hospital, where doctors found no evidence that Imelda had tried to hurt her baby. In fact, it was only then that Imelda, who’d been in shock, realised that she’d been pregnant as a result of being raped by her 70-year-old stepfather. The police didn’t believe her, and charged her with the attempted murder of her baby.
Before the verdict, Bertha Deleon, a lawyer defending Imelda and other jailed women, told Grazia: ‘ There are many cases of injustices against poor women in El Salvador, but this is the most scandalous.’
Imelda was sexually abused by her stepfather from the age of 12. After she was charged with attempted murder, he visited her in hospital, threatening to kill her, her siblings and her mother if she reported the abuse. Another patient overheard and told a nurse, who called the police. But the state prosecutors refused to believe she’d been abused until a DNA test confirmed the baby’s paternity. Instead of providing her with psychological support, Imelda was sent to jail a week after giving birth to await trial. Her stepfather still hasn’t been charged with a crime.
The abortion ban isn’t the only problem in El Salvador. In 2017, nine women were murdered every week, mostly in shootings, with almost half the victims under the age of 30, according to the Institute of Legal Medicine. El Salvador is also plagued by violent territorial street gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18, known to force young women into sexual slavery.
But, as in the UK, home is the most dangerous place for women and girls, with most rapes and murders committed by relatives, partners and ex-partners. Impunity and deep-seated machismo are the biggest problems.
Erika Guevara-rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, says, ‘El Salvador has a shockingly high rate of gender-based violence, not only from criminal gangs but also the state, which disproportionately affects women from poor backgrounds. The nation’s total ban on abortion is barbaric.’ Currently, 24 other women who lost their babies through miscarriage or stillbirth are serving sentences of 15 to 30 years for murder.
After she was freed, Imelda wept and hugged her supporters outside the courthouse amid rapturous chants of ‘ Yes she could’. It was a momentous day, said Deleon. ‘ This ruling is an important precedent in the struggle for reproductive rights in El Salvador that will help our fight to free all the other women like Imelda still in jail.’