As we have been following the story of Beatriz and her plea for an abortion to save her life and end her non-viable pregnancy, I thought it only fair to share the next step in the story.
The 22-year-old woman, known as Beatriz, has been granted a caesarean section at 27 weeks gestation, her baby girl was born without a brain. This was expected as this is was one of the reasons she pleaded for an abortion.
Last week we reported that the country’s Supreme Court last week rejected the request for an abortion. For more details please see my previous article here. Her story reached great media heights and attracted the attention of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. They also issued a ruling that El Salvador should protect her life and help her end the pregnancy. Information on this can be found here.
At the end of the last week The Health Ministry ruled and said they would allow the C-section because the pregnancy was already at 26 weeks.
The woman was recovering under the close watch of doctors late Monday, there is no indication how long the baby girl will survive now delivered.
El Salvador’s laws prohibit all abortions, even when a woman’s health is at risk. Beatriz and any doctor who terminated her pregnancy would have faced arrest and criminal charges. There has been some speculation that this story has been used to create media buzz to then contest this current legislation.