Salvadoran Woman Denied Abortion Has C-Section And Baby Dies; Woman In Recovery

For the past few weeks, El Salvador has been under the microscope for the country's tough abortion laws, after a woman, only referred to as Beatriz for privacy purposes, was denied terminating her pregnancy even though she suffered from lupus and the pregnancy aggravated the disease and put her in risk of dying.

Doctors told Beatriz that bringing the pregnancy to full term would not be a good option for the fetus or herself because she would be getting sicker and the baby had low chances of survival since it had a condition that prevented the skull and brain to fully develop.

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After learning the devastating news, the 22-year-old Salvadoran girl took her case to the Supreme Court and petitioned the government to allow an abortion to save her life since it's illegal in El Salvador.

Her efforts were unsuccessful as she was denied the procedure, because a majority of judges on the high court said that physical and psychological exams by the government-run Institute of Legal Medicine, found that Beatriz's diseases were under control and that she could continue her pregnancy.

Beatriz's plight drew international attention and a ruling from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that El Salvador should protect her life and help her end the pregnancy.

After the ruling, the Health Ministry stepped in saying that it would allow a C-Section because the pregnancy was already at 26 weeks and the country's abortion laws were no longer at play. Ultrasound images showed the fetus was developing with only a brain stem.

Beatriz finally gave birth to a baby girl at 27 weeks, and she was born without a brain. "No one can say how long she will live," Morena Herrera of the Feminist Collective for Local Development told the Associated Press. "It was painful to see the little creature. That's what the grandmother told us, and the doctors confirmed it."

Unfortunately, the creature died five hours after being born, confirmed María Isabel Rodríguez, who works for the Health Ministry. She added that doctors at the Maternity Hospital had been preparing to perform the C-section at the slightest danger signs to save Beatriz's life, who's now recovering under the close watch of doctors.

Laws in El Salvador prohibit all abortions, even when a woman's health is at risk. Beatriz and any doctor who terminated her pregnancy would've faced arrest and criminal charges. Many abortion opponents said this case was being used to help legalize the procedure in El Salvador, who has some of the toughest abortion laws in Latin America, along with Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Chile, Suriname and Nicaragua.