A teenager who survived rape before giving birth to a stillborn baby in a bathroom has been jailed for 30 years.
The 19-year-old was locked up in El Salvador because her child died during her pregnancy.
Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz has been sentenced for ‘aggravated homicide’.
The ruling is part of staunchly conservative laws on abortion held by the Central American state.
Ms Cruz was reportedly raped during her pregnancy and only found out she was pregnant after collapsing in a bathroom.
She claimed to have been repeatedly raped by a gang member over months when she was 18.
When authorities found the fetus in April 2016, she was charged because she had not sought prenatal care, authorities said.
The law, which was brought in in 1998, criminalises all forms of abortion and some women can be jailed for 40 years.
UN officials have already pleaded with lawmakers to overturn the strict rules.
Amnesty’s Americas Director Erika Guevara-Rosas said the law is ‘causing nothing but pain and suffering to countless women and girls and their families’.
She added: ‘It goes against human rights and it has no place in the country or anywhere.’
However, the judge believed the state prosecutor who claimed Ms Cruz had thrown the fetus into a toilet bowl after giving birth.
The mother was also accused by the judge of involvement according to the Guardian.
Reform of the law is currently in a committee stage of the federal legislature and there is no certainty there will be a vote.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
