On March 10 and 11, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights heard oral arguments in the case of Manuela et al. v. El Salvador. El Salvador has an absolute abortion ban. Under that law, women who have abortions go to jail along with women like Manuela who, in 2008, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after suffering a miscarriage. Pregnancy Justice submitted an amicus brief in support of Manuela et al. on behalf of 34 organizations and individuals from around the world. Amici are human rights advocates, public health experts, and medical doctors who agree that this absolute abortion ban not only prohibits necessary healthcare, it also undermines healthcare access generally by making doctors an arm of the police state and undermining patient-doctor confidential relationships. This law is used to police women and people with the capacity for pregnancy, with the expected disparate impacts on poor women, women in rural places, and less-educated women, who already have diminished healthcare access and so are more likely to suffer pregnancy complications that could lead to their hospital interrogation, shackling during an obstetric emergency, and criminal prosecution, all of which happened to Manuela.
Read the English-language version of the amicus brief here.
Read the Spanish-language version of the amicus brief here.