International Film Festival Features Documentary About Center’s Salvadoran Client
Center to host panel discussion June 2 following film about Salvadoran woman unjustly imprisoned after obstetric emergency.
Teodora del Carmen Vásquez was unjustly imprisoned for 11 years under El Salvador’s inhumane abortion law after she suffered an obstetric emergency. After the Center for Reproductive Rights and its local partners fought for her freedom, she was released in 2018.
Now she is the subject of Fly So Far, a documentary that will premiere at the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Brussels on Wednesday, June 2. (Watch the replay of the discussion here.)
The Center, a co-sponsor of the festival, will be hosting a virtual panel discussion following the film’s screening and moderated by Catalina Martínez Coral, Senior Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center. Both the film and the discussion are free and open to the public.
El Salvador has a total ban on abortion and imposes harsh criminal penalties on both women and physicians. The country’s abortion ban has resulted in the unjust imprisonment of countless women who have suffered pregnancy-related complications and miscarriages and have been charged with having an abortion and convicted of homicide. The Center continues to fight for the freedom of these women, and in March 2021 argued a case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on behalf of another Salvadoran woman unjustly imprisoned.
Event Details
(Watch the replay of the discussion here.)
- Wednesday, June 2, 2021
- 1:30 pm ET; 7:30 pm CET: Screening of Fly So Far
- 3:00 pm ET; 9:00 pm CET: Panel discussion featuring Teodora del Carmen Vásquez, film subject; and Celina Escher, film director. Moderated by Catalina Martínez Coral, Senior Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Center for Reproductive Rights
Register for this free event here. (Watch the replay of the discussion here.)
More about the film: Teodora Vásquez was accused and subsequently sent to prison after experencing an obstetric emergency. She served 11 years behind bars and became inspired to fight for the rights of other unjustly punished women in El Salvador. The filmmakers present their stories, Teodora’s journey from prison, and her transformation into an activist. She hopes to help change one of the strictest abortion laws in the world.
More about the festival: One World in Brussels is an annual showcase of a selection of documentary films from the One World festival in the Czech Republic, currently the largest human rights film festival in the world. This year’s edition will take place from 31 May to 4 June 2021, exclusively online. Each film will be accompanied by a discussion through the One World Online platform with guests who have an influence and strong voice. Click here for the complete program of the One World in Brussels 2021 festival.
Read more from the Center:
- Teodora is Free, 03/18/18
- The Women Behind Bars in El Salvador, 04/12/18
