El Salvador Frees Woman Imprisoned for Decade Under Abortion Ban<br />15, 2018<br />MEXICO CITY — A Salvadoran woman who spent almost 11 years in prison under El Salvador’s ban<br />on abortion was freed Thursday after the country’s Supreme Court commuted her sentence.<br />But the Supreme Court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to show<br />that Ms. Vásquez had taken any action to end the pregnancy and that for "powerful reasons of justice" and "equity," she should be released.<br />Two bills have been introduced in El Salvador’s Congress to permit abortion in specific cases, including to save the life of the mother,<br />but they have yet to be considered by a congressional committee.<br />In 2013, the Supreme Court rejected a plea to terminate the high-risk pregnancy of a<br />woman whose fetus suffered an abnormality that would not have allowed it to survive.<br />Morena Herrera said that For me this is a sign of hope, that Teodora’s life may improve,<br />El Salvador is one of six countries in the Americas that ban abortion, and its courts enforce it with severe penalties on women and doctors.
