Manuela’s family needs El Salvador to ask for forgiveness
Despite a 2021 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Manuela v. El Salvador that established standards throughout Latin America to help protect women seeking reproductive health care, including abortion, the Limited Times reports that Salvadoran health authorities’ new protocol does not fully guarantee the non-criminalization of obstetric emergencies.
Manuela v. El Salvador was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners on behalf of a Salvadoran woman sentenced to 30 years in prison after seeking care after an obstetric emergency.
In the piece, Catalina Martínez Coral, the Center’s Senior Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized the importance of acknowledging Manuela’s innocence to her family and community, despite the lack of a public apology from the Salvadoran state.
“No other woman should be criminalized after suffering an obstetric emergency, and states must create guarantees so that women can access comprehensive health services, including reproductive health services, without fear of being denounced by medical personnel and without fear of being violated or having this threat of going to jail,” said Martínez Coral.
Read the article here:
- “Morena Herrera: ‘Manuela’s family needs El Salvador to ask for forgiveness,’” Limited Times, 07.26.23