THE FATE OF A TEENAGE RAPE VICTIM 


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Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez was handed a 30-year prison sentence in 2017 for aggravated murder by a female judge who ruled the teenager had induced an abortion, which is a crime under any circumstance in the Central American nation.

Her sentence was annulled in February 2019 in an appeal before El Salvador's top court, marking a victory for the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion who are working to free another 20 jailed women with similar cases.

Abortion has been a crime since 1997 in the socially conservative and Catholic majority nation, even in cases of rape and incest, when the woman's life is in danger and even if the foetus is deformed. Is bring a deformed child with no arms to birth a decent thing to bring about? How would the other cope with the birth of that unfortunate woman?

Pro-choice activists say Hernandez's retrial is an important test case that could signal the stance on abortion taken by El Salvador's new president, Nayib Bukele, who took office in June 2019.

Bukele has said he believes abortion should be allowed only if the mother's life is at risk." This case would be the first case that would be tried after the new president is in power," said Paula Avila-Guillen, director for Latin America initiatives at the Women's Equality Center, a U.S.-based reproductive rights advocacy group.

Hernandez, now 21 and from a poor rural community, said she was raped and did not realize that she was pregnant until she went into labour in a bathroom and gave birth to a stillborn baby. Why was she charged if the baby was dead before it emerged from its mother?

There was no proof that she tried to kill her baby considering that she suffered a pregnancy-related complication.  The irony in this case is that if she could afford a doctor to assist her, she would have never been charged, let alone imprisoned. 

Six other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have absolute bans on abortion however. El Salvador stands out for its high number of convictions. About 20 women are in jail for abortion crimes when they suffered miscarriages, stillbirths or pregnancy complications, some serving sentences of up to 40 years.

The United Nations called on El Salvador in 2017 to issue a moratorium on applying its abortion law and to review all cases where women have been imprisoned for abortion related crimes. But attempts to pass a bill that would ease El Salvador's abortion ban have failed. In my opinion, the Catholic Church is behind this stupid law since that church has always been against abortion for any reason whatsoever.         

In that country, there's no presumption of innocence. The moment that the word abortion gets thrown in a case, from that moment on.  These unfortunate women are guilty in the eyes of everyone. Well probably not everyone but certainly by Cath0lic prudes.

The United Nations called on El Salvador in 2017 to issue a moratorium on applying its abortion law and to review all cases where women have been imprisoned for abortion related crimes. But attempts to pass a bill that would ease El Salvador’s abortion ban have failed.

iIn 2016, there were currently 66 countries that ban abortion altogether (with a portion of those having exceptions where abortion is okay to save a woman's life. Among those countries are ones located in the Middle East, such as Afghanistan and Syria; some in Africa, such as Sudan and Nigeria; and others located in South America, such as Brazil and Chile. These 66 countries make up for a little over 25 percent of the world's population.

In South America, despite abortion being illegal in almost all countries within the region (with the exception of Cuba), most allow criminal penalties to be waived or lowered in specific circumstances such as when the pregnant woman is in danger or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

In Ireland, abortion is illegal and only legal when a pregnant woman's life is at risk, including the risk of suicide. The Irish Family Planning Association reports that every year, an estimated that as many as 5,000 women travel abroad to access safe and legal abortions.

Abortion is also criminalized in most circumstances in Northern Ireland, leading Amnesty International to claim in a statement last June that Ireland's abortion law is "one of the most restrictive in the world." If someone were to have an illegal abortion in Ireland or assist someone in having one, they would face up to 14 years in prison and medical professionals could face a €4,000 (about $4,352 USD) fine for giving women comprehensive information about the procedures.

Abortion in Ireland is currently regulated by the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Act passed in 2018. Abortion is permitted during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and later in cases where the pregnant woman's life or health is at risk, or in the cases of a fatal foetal (Stillborn).  

The abortion debate most commonly relates to the "induced abortion" of an embryo or fetus at some point in a pregnancy, which is also how the term is used in a legal sense.^[6] Some also use the term "elective abortion", which is used in relation to a claim to an unrestricted right of a woman to an abortion, whether or not she chooses to have one. The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion describes the interruption of pregnancy before viability at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons

Abortion services commenced on 1 January 2019 following its legalization by the aforementioned Act, which became law on 20 December 2018. This law followed a constitutional amendment approved by a referendum in May 2018. This replaced the Eighth Amendment, which had given the life of the unborn foetust he same value as that of its mother, with a clause permitting the Oireachtas (parliament) to legislate for the termination of pregnancies. The constitution amendment was signed into law on 18 September 2018.

While the laws and criminal penalties differed from country to country where abortion is banned, many women still ended up behind bars as a form of punishment. President Trump may have eventually backtracked on his divisive comments and released a statement in which he clarified that he would seek punishment for abortion providers and not the woman having the abortion), but it's important the public keep the conversation in mind and not allow the United States to become the next country ramping up its anti-abortion laws even further.

 After nearly four hours of debate, the Alabama Senate passed HB 314, a bill that essentially outlaws all forms ofabortion except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, or if the unborn baby is found to have a “lethal anomaly.  The bill makes no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, despite Democrats’ attempts to reintroduce such exceptions.

The new law would punish doctors with up to 99 years behind bars — decades more than the maximum sentence for those convicted of second-degree rape.

HB 314 is a near-total abortion ban. If enacted, it will be the most draconian anti-abortion law in the United States. And in the context of the national discussion about reproductive rights, the implications of HB 314 could also be devastating. Proponents of the bill (including the sponsor of HB 314 itself) have openly admitted that it is intended as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade — and given the present composition of the Supreme Court, the fear of the landmark ruling being overturned or dramatically eroded is an all too valid one.

Abortion is among the most controversial and divisive issues in the society, culture and politics of the United States. Various anti-abortion laws have been in force in each state since at least 1900.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court decision  Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion nationwide in 1973, abortion was already legal in several states, but the decision imposed a uniform framework for state legislation on the subject. It established a minimal period during which abortion is legal (with more or fewer restrictions throughout the pregnancy). That basic framework, modified in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), remains nominally in place, although the effective availability of abortion varies significantly from state to state, as many counties have no abortion providers.^[1] Planned Parenthood v. Casey held that a law cannot place legal restrictions imposing an undue burden for "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus

The main actors in the abortion debate are most often labeled either as "pro-choice" or "pro-life", though shades of opinion exist, and most Americans are considered to be somewhere in the middle.^[3] A 2018 Gallup survey found the percentages that were pro-choice or pro-life were equal (at 48%), but more people considered abortion morally wrong (48%) than morally acceptable (43%). The poll results also indicated that Americans harbor a diverse and shifting set of opinions on the legal status of abortion. The survey found that only 29% of respondents believed abortion should be legal in all circumstances, and 50% of respondents believed that abortion should be legal under certain circumstances.^[4] Recent polling results also found that only 34% of Americans were satisfied with the current abortion laws.

Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy and is governed by the Canada Health Act. While some non-legal barriers to access continue to exist Canada is one of only a few nations with no specific legal restrictions on abortion. Regulations and accessibility vary between provinces. Prior to 1969, all abortion was illegal in Canada. In 1969, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 legalized abortion for any reason as long as a committee of doctors certified that continuing the pregnancy would put the mother at risk. Of course, the abortion will not be permitted if the pregnancy is in the third trimester stage unless the mother’s life is at risk.

Long gone are the days in Canada when back room quacks would abort the babies and at the same time, put the pregnant women’s lives at risk.