Beatriz’s story was heard at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

– In the two days of the hearing, it was evident that Beatriz’s rights to life, integrity and health, among others, were violated. We, the co-plaintiff organizations, ask the IACHR Court to fully compensate Beatriz’s family for the violations suffered and to create the legal conditions to ensure access to safe abortion in El Salvador.

Mexico City, March 27, 2023. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) held a public hearing on March 22-23 in San José, Costa Rica, on Beatriz, the young woman who in 2013 requested an abortion from the State of El Salvador to save her health and life.

The Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Feminist Collective and Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean (Ipas LAC), representative organizations that have accompanied Beatriz’s family and brought her case before the Inter-American Human Rights System, are optimistic and hopeful after the close of the hearing.

“We are very hopeful after this hearing. It was very clear that the way Beatriz was treated violated her human rights and that it is necessary to reverse the total criminalization of abortion. Today the Salvadoran State has the opportunity not only to provide justice for Beatriz, but also to ensure that these cases are not repeated. This happened ten years ago, it was another government, but at this moment this government has the opportunity to modify the laws to ensure that in cases where the health and life of pregnant women are in danger, pregnancies can be terminated”.said Maria Antonieta Alcalde, director of Ipas LAC.

During these days, it became evident that Beatriz’s rights to life, integrity and health, to private and family life, as well as her right to autonomy and access to justice and judicial guarantees, among others, were violated.

Beatriz died in September 2017, but her voice was heard on the second day of the hearing. The organizations presented a video recorded in May 2013, in which she addressed the former president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes: “Help me so that the Constitutional Court accepts to interrupt the pregnancy… I would like other women not to go through what I went through”.

By means of testimony, medical expertise and documentary evidence, it was demonstrated that not having performed the termination of the pregnancy at the time it was medically recommended, aggravated the situation of risk to Beatriz’s life, integrity and physical and mental health; this constituted a form of torture.

“In maternity they diagnosed that Beatriz was going to have a girl but that she could not be born because she had no brain (…) The doctors told her that she could not continue with the pregnancy because the life of both was in danger and that there was a possibility that Beatriz could be saved; that there was a treatment, but that they could not do it because it was forbidden,” said Mrs. M.D.C., Beatriz’s mother, as part of the first testimony of the hearing.

This risk to her health was based on her pre-existing diseases (rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus in its lupus nephropathy stage), on the fact that in her first pregnancy she had suffered severe pre-eclampsia and on the fact that she was carrying an anencephalic fetus, i.e. without part of the brain and skull, and that this was incompatible with life outside the uterus.

“She told me, if I knew that my baby was going to live, I would sacrifice myself, but there was no hope because she was being tested every so often… but the results were the same (…) I told her that I supported her in whatever she decided, but I felt indignant because if there was a treatment to save her, why was she being tortured every day,” Beatriz’s mother shared.

The second witness statement was that of Dr. Guillermo Ortiz, a gynecologist and obstetrician, specialist in high-risk pregnancies, who attended Beatriz during her two pregnancies.

“She knew that she was not at imminent risk, but she also knew that at 26 weeks is when the most serious risk begins, she knew this because she had already experienced it in her first pregnancy, when she had a crisis at 20 weeks,” the specialist explained.

The next intervention was that of physician Rafael Barahona, who was to testify as a witness for the State of El Salvador on the diagnosis, treatment during gestation, delivery and subsequent stabilization of Beatriz.

However, when asked repeatedly by the judges about his direct relationship with the young Salvadoran woman, he indicated that he was not her treating physician and that he rarely spoke with her and never spoke with her family.

Throughout the two-day hearing, the IACHR Court received sufficient arguments to recognize that the absolute criminalization of abortion in El Salvador is contrary to the obligation to protect rights and that access to abortion in cases such as the one mentioned is a health service and, therefore, should be lawful.

“The evidence of the process is abundant and unquestionable. Beatriz did not receive the treatment unanimously recommended by her treating physicians at the beginning of her pregnancy because El Salvador does not allow abortion under any circumstances. From the voice of her mother, her doctor and herself, we heard the fear they had of the possibility of being criminalized. This fear was added to the fear expressed by Beatriz of the possibility of dying while she was waiting for the procedure to be performed,” the statement of the organizations involved in the litigation states.

In their final arguments, the organizations asked the IACHR Court to order the State of El Salvador to comply with the following points for the health, life, dignity and autonomy of women:

Make full reparations to Beatriz’s family for the violations suffered.

Generate the legal conditions to ensure access to safe abortion services in accordance with the recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) – To guarantee the effectiveness of such a measure, they request the Court to expressly provide in its judgment that the criminalization of abortion, at least in cases where the health of the pregnant woman is at risk, has no legal effect in El Salvador, as it is a practice contrary to the American Convention.

3. Adopt comprehensive laws and public policies to ensure that access to abortion is effective in practice in accordance with WHO guidelines.

– To this end, it must be guaranteed that the abortion is performed without the need for prior authorization and that medical care, including immediate psychological care, is guaranteed.

– Also, ensure that the education of health professionals guarantees women’s reproductive rights.

4. Develop clinical practice guidelines to ensure access to diagnostic methods and treatment in cases where abortion is required.

“Beatriz’s case is repeated in all countries where abortion is criminalized, and this is a very important opportunity for the IACHR Court to set precedents and standards to be followed by all signatory states of the American Convention on Human Rights to preserve the health, life and integrity of pregnant women,” said the Ipas LAC director.

Ipas LAC thanks the organizations, as well as all the people in El Salvador, Costa Rica and around the world who joined in the demands for justice for Beatriz and her family. During the hearing, mobilizations were held outside the embassies of El Salvador in Latin American countries and the rest of the world.

We call to maintain solidarity and hope while the IACHR Court’s judgment arrives and invite you to sustain the calls for justice for Beatriz. The court will give its ruling on the case in the coming months after the final written pleadings are submitted.