U.S. Lawmakers Call On El Salvador To Free Women 'Wrongfully' Jailed For Illegal Abortions

U.S. Lawmakers Call On El Salvador To Free Women 'Wrongfully' Jailed For Illegal Abortions

Members of congress are asking Secretary of State John Kerry to lean on El Salvador’s president to “re-examine” his government’s draconian anti-abortion laws, which have been used to incarcerate dozens of women on charges of aggravated homicide for having a miscarriage or stillbirth.

In a world full of bad laws, El Salvador’s anti-abortion legislation, in place since 1998, is in contention to be among the worst in the hemisphere. It denies women the right to life-saving medical procedures to terminate risky or unviable pregnancies, and has led to the tyrannical incarceration of dozens of Salvadoran women — mostly young, and all poor — for failing to give birth to a healthy baby.

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