3 women charged with homicide after miscarriage released in El Salvador after 13 years

Authorities in El Salvador have released three women who spent between six and thirteen years in prison after miscarriages due to the country's severe anti-abortion laws.

The women's foetuses were lost due to "health emergencies" during pregnancy, according to the ACDATEE abortion rights organisation.

After their jail sentences for aggravated homicide were commuted, they were released on Thursday and reunited with their families in time for Christmas. Only their initial names were used to identify the released women.

Karen had served six years in prison, Kathy eight, and Evelyn thirteen, according to ACDATEE member Morena Herrera.

"It is a thrill for all of us who have been battling for the release of all women who have been wrongfully imprisoned for suffering obstetric emergencies as a result of this cruel and brutal criminal statute," Herrera continued.

Abortion is illegal in El Salvador in all circumstances, and a woman who terminates a pregnancy faces up to eight years in prison. Judges, on the other hand, frequently find women guilty of serious homicide, a crime punishable by up to 50 years in jail.

After seeking medical care for pregnancy difficulties, many women are accused of attempting an abortion and are prosecuted.

According to ACDATEE, fourteen additional women are still incarcerated for similar reasons as Karen, Kathy, and Evelyn. "We will continue to campaign for the release of the remaining women who are incarcerated," Herrera stated.

Campaigners are pressing El Salvador's government to make abortion lawful in cases where the woman's life is in danger, the foetus is unviable, or the pregnancy is the product of rape.

Their attempts were thwarted in September, when President Nayib Bukele vetoed a constitutional amendment proposed by his government that would have made medically required abortions legal.

Protests and social media campaigns against measures to liberalise the country's abortion ban are frequently coordinated by Catholic and evangelical anti-abortion groups. They contend that the unborn embryos, not the imprisoned women or their families, are the victims in these cases.

El Salvador's criminalization of women suspected of having abortions has been condemned by the United Nations on numerous occasions.

Other Latin American countries, on the other hand, have recently softened their anti-abortion attitudes, called the "green wave" by women's rights activists.