'I want to live': One woman's fight against El Salvador's total abortion ban
This is the story of a young woman's fight for a life-saving abortion, and the “pro-life” forces that fought to keep her pregnant and sick
Her first pregnancy had been “terrible,” recalled her physician, Dr. Guillermo Ortiz, one of El Salvador’s leading perinatologists, specializing in managing high-risk pregnancies.1 She had to be hospitalized for months and required “six different medications to control her blood pressure, but finally she developed preeclampsia.”2
Preeclampsia is a progressive, dangerous form of gestational hypertension.3 The pregnant person’s “blood pressure becomes life-threateningly high, damaging other organs.”4 It is also known to cause “fetal growth restriction, oligohydramnios, placental abruption, and nonreassuring fetal status demonstrated on antepartum surveillance,” according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.5
“She almost died. She got to seven-and-a-half months, but then her lungs filled with fluid and we couldn’t control her blood pressure,” said Dr. Ortiz.6
Once doctors determined that her son, Claudio, could survive outside of her uterus, doctors gave the young woman a c-section. The baby “spent more than a month in the ICU.”7 “We saved [her] life. But as a result of that [first] pregnancy,” she was left with “chronic hypertension and a kidney dysfunction called lupus nephritis,” Dr. Guillermo Ortiz recalled.8 He treated the young, peasant women during both her first and second pregnancies.
Soon, against her wishes, the young woman was coerced by her abusive husband, who regularly beat her, into becoming pregnant a second time.9
“[Her] health status was extremely fragile because she had lupus―an incurable disease that causes the body's immune system to attack its own organs.”10 Her first pregnancy had nearly killed her and had left her kidneys permanently impaired.11 Her doctors had warned that she could easily die if she became pregnant again,12 but her husband, the young woman said, “didn't care.”13 “He knew that I couldn't have children, but he told me that he wanted me to get pregnant anyhow, even though he knew what could happen. So he wouldn't use a condom,” she recalled, speaking with Michelle Oberman, an internationally recognized scholar and the Katharine and George Alexander Professor of Law at the University of Santa Clara.14
If her first pregnancy was “terrible,” her second pregnancy would turn out to be hell.
This is the story of a young Salvadoran woman's fight for a life-saving abortion, and the so-called “pro-life” forces that fought to keep her pregnant and sick…
Salvadoran culture is dominated by machismo, a belief in male dominance and superiority, as well as by the long effects of Roman Catholic colonization and harmful patriarchal myths about women. Three of these myths are especially detrimental:
“motherhood is women’s most important role and therefore, since it is their ‘natural’ duty, all women should be mothers”;
“every woman’s duty is to sacrifice herself for her children and her husband”;
“a woman who thinks about herself is ‘irresponsible.’”15
The country’s culture of machismo, Roman Catholic colonization, and patriarchal myths, make El Salvador one of the most dangerous and difficult countries in the world in which to be a woman.161718 Rape, domestic violence, and femicide are commonplace - and rarely prosecuted.
Because a woman's reason for existence is said to be to birth babies, to sacrifice herself for others, and to always put herself last, abortion is completely prohibited in El Salvador. No exceptions.— Not even to save the life of the pregnant person.
The absolute prohibition of abortion has always been the long-term goal of those opposed to reproductive rights, both inside and outside of El Salvador. For example, Eugene Quay, one of the twentieth century’s most influential anti-reproductive-rights activists in America, wrote, “A mother who would sacrifice the life of her unborn child for her own health is lacking in something… It would [] be in the interests of society to sacrifice such a mother rather than the child who might otherwise prove to be normal and decent and an asset.”19
The convergence of rigid gender hierarchy and the absolute prohibition of abortion in El Salvador have made the country the “Pro-Life” Movement's paradise.
If Beatriz’s first pregnancy was terrible, her second pregnancy was hell. It was also “more complicated from the start.”20 Once Beatriz realized she was pregnant, “she stopped taking her lupus medicine,” because it was contraindicated for pregnancy.21 The discontinuation of her lupus medication sent Beatriz “into a medical crisis.”22
“Her skin was covered in painful eruptions; she had hypertension, and her damaged kidneys were spilling protein into her urine, leaving her blood and body severely weakened. By the time her lupus doctors verified her pregnancy and referred her to La Maternidad,” El Salvador’s main public hospital for obstetrics, “she was eleven weeks pregnant and severely ill.”23
To make matters worse, doctors discovered that her fetus was anencephalic. It did not have a brain.24 “Humans cannot live without a brain; if her baby did not die in utero, it would die shortly after birth.”25
“Gestations of anencephalic fetuses are related to various obstetric complications; this is one of the points raised by the literature in favor of the interruption of gestation. Among the complications are hypertensive diseases, complications at the time of delivery, renal and heart failure, placental abruption, premature rupture of the membranes, and infection are identified in these cases. More than just clinical-obstetric intercurrences, the psychological consequences of gestation of an anencephalic fetus must be emphasized.”26
A six-year case series studied “the health outcomes of pregnant individuals in El Salvador whose fetuses were diagnosed with a fatal congenital malformation,” including anencephaly, “and who were legally required to carry these nonviable pregnancies to term under the nation's absolute abortion ban.”27 The study revealed that “individuals who were required to carry pregnancies with severe fetal malformations to term (or until preterm labor began naturally) experienced high rates of maternal morbidity,”28 that is, harmful “outcomes[] directly related to pregnancy and childbirth that result[] in both short-term delivery complications and long-term consequences to [] women’s health.”29 “More than half (54.9%) of pregnancies experienced at least 1 serious pregnancy-related health complication, whereas 47.9% underwent a physically-invasive medical procedure to manage complications, including cesarean deliveries, decompression amniocenteses, fetal head decompressions, and, in 1 case, a full hysterectomy.”30
In this second pregnancy, Beatriz would have to endure “all the life-threatening complications she knew first hand from her first pregnancy: kidney failure, preeclampsia, stroke, blood clots, and more. In addition, there were [new] risks due to the fact that the fetus was anencephalic.”31 Because of all this, “she would have to be hospitalized until she had the baby.”32
“[W]e realized [the fetus] had no chance of survival, and that the only thing we’d accomplish by continuing the pregnancy is to risk Beatriz’s life,” said Dr. Ortiz, in an interview with Michelle Oberman, an internationally recognized scholar and the Katharine and George Alexander Professor of Law at the University of Santa Clara.33
“She was around fourteen weeks pregnant at that point. Her situation was even more serious because her first delivery had required a cesarean section. We knew it was less risky to interrupt (terminate) an early pregnancy; it was much safer that waiting to do another cesarean section, with its own risks, in addition to the risks from the lupus. We convened a meeting of the medical committee, which is what we do when there is a challenging case. We call together experts: intensive care, obstetricians, and neonatologists, to discuss options and set a plan. In this case, we all agreed that interruption was the ideal plan.”34
“But,” Dr. Ortiz continued, “when we talked with the hospital attorney, he told us that our proposed 'interruption' put us at risk of violating the law. We sent him to consult with legal experts, including the Fiscalia de la Republica [the governmental office overseeing all prosecutions], a human rights lawyer, a family law judge, but none supported an interpretation of the law that permitted us to interrupt pregnancy. None of them said, 'Do it. We'll support you.’”35
Shortly thereafter, when a group of lawyers volunteered to help Beatriz, she took her plea to end her pregnancy to the Salvadoran Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench.36
“I want to live,” she said.37
Her lawyers also “began by contacting the country's Ministry of Health, the government agency charged with overseeing health care and setting policies for the country's public hospitals, which treat the vast majority of the population. After reviewing Beatriz's medical record, the ministry posted a summary of Beatriz's case on its website, and the minister of health herself gave a statement to the press publicly urging the Supreme Court to permit Beatriz's doctors to interrupt the pregnancy on the grounds that it was the only way to safeguard Beatriz's life.”38
“When the Ministry of Health released its summary of Beatriz's case, along with its recommendation that she be allowed to terminate her pregnancy, her case became a public affair, and Beatriz found herself at the center of an international uproar over abortion. Within a day of filing her petition with the Supreme Court, international organizations… issued statements supporting Beatriz's right to end her pregnancy.”39
The Salvadoran Supreme Court instructed the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) to make a recommendation. IML director José Miguel Fortin Magaña, who fully supported El Salvador’s total abortion ban, assembled a panel of doctors to look into Beatriz’s health. However, Fortin Magaña chose not to include a single high-risk pregnancy specialist on his small team that investigated the case.40 “From Fortin Magaña's perspective… the country's leading high-risk obstetricians were not neutral experts.”41 One of Beatriz's doctors later decried Fortin Magaña's panel: "His experts were a forensic specialist in rape, ordinary gynecologist, and himself - a psychiatrist, plus some generalists from the medical school.”42
Just three members of the IML panel members examined Beatriz, if you can even call it an examination.4344 According to Beatriz:
“There were three doctors. I didn't know their names. They didn't make me undress. They just checked my face and my hands, looked at the marks on my skin. And listened to my breath. They asked about my childhood and made me do some drawings. I guess they wanted to see if I was OK in my head. Maybe they thought I was crazy because of what I wanted to do.”45
Unsurprisingly, given the absence of relevant experts on the panel and what passed as an “examination” of Beatriz, the IML recommended against terminating Beatriz's pregnancy.46
In the interim between the IML’s recommendation and the Supreme Court ruling, “pro-life” groups around the world proved to be not-so-pro-life afterall. They “called on El Salvador to hold fast to its opposition to abortion under all circumstances,” Beatriz be damned.47
“The leading voice [for] denying Beatriz’s request came from El Salvador’s Bishops’ Conference.”48 The bishops asserted that “denying the procedure requested by Beatriz, in accord with protection of the unborn, does not constitute a violation of constitutional rights.”49 The medical reports weren’t enough to convince these patriarchs, in their pompous piety, that Beatriz was at risk; “they only became convinced that her health was in jeopardy when they saw her ‘on the verge of death.’ In addition, the bishops stressed that ‘the existence of a malformation or inherited disorder in the one about to be born should not be tantamount to a death sentence,’ ignoring the fact that anencephaly is not just any ‘malformation or inherited disorder.’”50
As noted above, Salvadoran culture is dominated by machismo, a belief in male dominance and superiority, as well as Roman Catholic colonization and harmful patriarchal myths about women. Three of these myths detrimental myths are (1) “motherhood is women’s most important role and therefore, since it is their ‘natural’ duty, all women should be mothers”; (2) “every woman’s duty is to sacrifice herself for her children and her husband”; (3) “a woman who thinks about herself is ‘irresponsible.’”51
With these myths in mind, we can see that the purpose of abortion bans isn’t to “save babies,” but “to keep women in their traditional roles. Beatriz’s case demonstrates this, [] as there was no chance her daughter would survive.”52
“Despite the patent absurdity of her words as her organization insisted on the Calvary Beatriz was put through, Julia Regina de Cardenal, president of the Yes to Life Foundation,” the Salvadoran affiliate of the American anti-choice group Human Life that, “claimed that ‘what we want is Beatriz’s physical and emotional well-being and we’re trying to get people to join us to help her.’”53
What de Cardenal and other anti-choice activists and groups really wanted, however, was Beatriz's so-called “welfare” based on the above mentioned patriarchal myths about women.54 “El Salvador has set an example of the defense of life from conception until natural death,” and demonstrated “that there’s no reason why the baby in the womb has to be sacrificed to save the mother’s life,” she proclaimed.55
Meanwhile, Beatriz was pleading for her life.
“I want to live. I beg from my heart that you (the Court) let me.”56
The Salvadoran Supreme Court denied Beatriz's frightened pleas: “The rights of the mother cannot be given preference over those of the nasciturus (unborn child) or vice versa.”57
“With this ruling [the Supreme Court] wanted to set an important precedent against all abortions in El Salvador. It further emphasized that ‘there is an absolute impediment to authorizing the practice of abortion as it countermands the constitutional protection afforded the human person from the moment of conception, as stipulated in article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic.’”58
There was no protection for Beatriz.
Anti-reproductive-rights groups across the globe issued statements celebrating the Salvadoran Supreme Court’s decision to deny Beatriz a medically-necessary abortion. For example, Lila Rose, the sadistic prevaricator and head of rabid anti-reproductive-rights group Live Action, issued the following statement:
“The Supreme Court of El Salvador has made the just and commendable decision in the case of 22-year-old Beatriz and her baby. Hospitals around the world volunteered to abort Beatriz’s disabled child, saying, in effect, “let us kill your baby for you.” El Salvador rebuffed this international bully ring of abortion activists and treated both Beatriz and her pre-born child in the only proper way for a nation that honors human rights: by treating both the mother and the child as equal patients.
“El Salvador has shown what true medical compassion looks like, all while keeping in line with medical science and plain common sense….
“The Beatriz case reinforces once again the humanity, compassion, and good sense that come from a nation respecting the dignity and equality of all human life. El Salvador has established itself as a human rights leader, and I pray that all the world’s nations, including our own, will follow this country’s heroic example.”59
In truth, “the Salvadoran state did not care that Beatriz’s pregnancy was killing her. Nor was it concerned that Beatriz's baby was missing parts of its brain and had no chance of surviving outside the womb. The state ordered that Beatriz be confined to her hospital bed for 81 days as her own organs failed so that she could carry her pregnancy to full term. The baby would not survive outside the womb for more than a few hours. In other words, the Salvadoran state decreed that Beatriz's fundamental right to life was not to be protected.”60
At twenty-seven weeks gestation, Beatriz's condition worsened and she went into preterm labor. Doctors performed an emergency cesarean surgery to prevent her uterus from rupturing at the site of her previous cesarean section.61 “Her newborn daughter was placed on life support in an incubator, where she died, five hours after she was born.”62
“So-called pro-life groups both inside the country and around the world ‘celebrated the outcome’ of Beatriz’s case. The baby’s death didn’t seem to matter much to them; what appeared to be important was that Beatriz, whose voice was buried under so many powerful cries, shouldn’t decide; the decision should be made by the State, under pressure from the Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups. They needed to see a peasant girl doomed to silence and obliged to comply with ‘her historical role.’”63
Beatriz's fragile health deteriorated following her pregnancy and she died four years later.64 “Her pregnancy had aggravated the effects of [her] preexisting disease (systemic lupus erythematosus) and [further] damaged her kidneys.”65 Beatriz finally succumbed following a minor vehicle accident.
She was just 26 years old.
In 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that El Salvador violated a series of rights by denying Beatriz an abortion. “According to the court, the government violated her right to health, personal integrity, privacy, access to justice, and to live a life free of violence—rights stated in the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights and the Belém do Pará Convention to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women.”66 The IACHR also found El Salvador guilty of obstetric violence.67
The IACHR ordered El Salvador “to adopt ‘all necessary regulatory measures’ so that doctors are authorised to terminate ‘pregnancies that pose a risk to the woman’s life and health.’”68 It “also ‘recommended’ that El Salvador amend its laws to allow abortion ‘in cases of fetal incompatibility with life outside the womb, as well as where there is a risk to the life and a serious risk to the health and personal integrity of the mother.’”69
El Salvador was ordered to pay restitution to Beatriz’s mother, stepfather, widower and son.70
Leading up to the ruling, and fearing that the IACHR’s decision would weaken El Salvador’s abortion ban, anti-reproductive-rights activists and organizations had urged the court to rule in favor of El Salvador. Notre Dame Law Professor Paolo Carozza even testified at at court in favor of El Salvador’s total abortion ban.71 Activists also engaged in a public campaign of misinformation about Beatriz, the case, El Salvador’s laws, and the court itself.72737475767778
Nancy Flanders, the Associate Editor for Live Action, a rabid anti-reproductive-rights group, even had the gall to claim that “[Beatriz] never had life-threatening pregnancy complications” and “doctors never advised abortion.”79
Unfortunately, “the court declined to address El Salvador’s absolute criminalization of abortion, a decision that drew criticism. In a partially dissenting opinion, Judge Humberto Sierra Porto argued the court ‘failed to analyze the most relevant human rights violations’ by not examining the broader implications of criminalizing abortion in cases of maternal health risks or fetal non-viability.”80
Anti-reproductive-rights groups in America have seized upon this, and lauded the IACHR’s ruling as an affirmation of El Salvador’s total abortion ban.8182
Nevertheless, “the ruling was received as a triumph by Beatriz’s family and the activists that supported them in this case—but their work does not stop here. It is hard to envision the current Salvadoran government under Nayib Bukele (2019-today) embracing the decision. Bukele has implemented an anti-gender agenda, banning sexual education and the discussion of gender in public schools and stating his support for the total abortion ban repeatedly. He also has a history of rejecting the Interamerican system. In 2021 his government stopped collaborating with the Organization of American States (OAS) after the organization created a commission to investigate corruption cases within his government.”83
Whatever the future may hold, the world will always remember the young, peasant woman from El Salvador who, against the odds, had the courage to fight for her right to dignity, to health, and to life. Rest in power, Beatriz.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Practice Bulletin, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Retrieved at: https://www.preeclampsia.org/public/frontend/assets/img/advocacy_resource/Gestational_Hypertension_and_Preeclampsia_ACOG_Practice_Bulletin,_Number_222_1605448006.pdf
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Practice Bulletin, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Retrieved at: https://www.preeclampsia.org/public/frontend/assets/img/advocacy_resource/Gestational_Hypertension_and_Preeclampsia_ACOG_Practice_Bulletin,_Number_222_1605448006.pdf
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 51). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 25). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 25). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 25). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 51). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 51). essay, Beacon Press.
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COHA. (2013, July 8). Catholicism’s Heavy Hand: “beatriz” and abortion in El Salvador. Council on Hemispheric Affairs. https://coha.org/religious-politics-stunts-opportunity-to-establish-precedent-for-womens-rights-in-el-salvador/
Zanzinger, K. (2021, March 5). Underreported and unpunished, femicides in El Salvador continue. NACLA. https://nacla.org/news/2021/03/04/femicides-el-salvador-pandemic
Zulver, J., & Méndez, M. J. (2023, May 4). El Salvador’s “State of exception” makes women collateral damage. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2023/05/el-salvadors-state-of-exception-makes-women-collateral-damage?lang=en
Eugene Quay, "Justifiable Abortion--Medical and Legal Foundations," Georgetown Law Journal 49, no. 2 (Winter 1960): 173-256
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 27). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 28). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 25). essay, Beacon Press.
Fernandes IB, Xavier RB, São Bento PAS, Rodrigues A. On the way to interrupting the gestation or not: experiences of pregnant women with anencephalic fetuses. Cien Saude Colet. 2020 Feb;25(2):429-438. Portuguese, English. doi: 10.1590/1413-81232020252.14812018. Epub 2018 Jun 17. PMID: 32022184.
Ugarte, S. C., Funes, M., & Viterna, J. (2022, December 17). Maternal morbidity under an absolute abortion ban: Insights from a 6-year case series of fatal fetal malformations in El Salvador. AJOG Global Reports. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666577822000958
Ugarte, S. C., Funes, M., & Viterna, J. (2022, December 17). Maternal morbidity under an absolute abortion ban: Insights from a 6-year case series of fatal fetal malformations in El Salvador. AJOG Global Reports. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/artic
Maternal morbidity. ScienceDirect. (2023). https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/maternal-morbidity
Ugarte, S. C., Funes, M., & Viterna, J. (2022, December 17). Maternal morbidity under an absolute abortion ban: Insights from a 6-year case series of fatal fetal malformations in El Salvador. AJOG Global Reports. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/artic
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 28). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 28). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 28). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 28). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 28). essay, Beacon Press.
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 32). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 32). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 34). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 35). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 35). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 35). essay, Beacon Press.
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 35). essay, Beacon Press.
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 38). essay, Beacon Press.
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Rose, L. (2013, June 4). Historic life-affirming decision from El Salvador in “Beatriz” case. Live Action News. https://www.liveaction.org/news/historic-life-affirming-decision-from-el-salvador-in-beatriz-case/
Reifenberg, N., & Viterna, J. (2023, March 7). The Other Biatrices. El faro. https://elfaro.net/en/202303/opinion/26755/The-Other-Beatrices.htm
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 40). essay, Beacon Press.
Oberman, M. (2018). Beatriz and Her Case. In Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma (pp. 40). essay, Beacon Press.
Freedman, E. (2013, July). The case of Beatriz: Who gets to decide?. Revista Envío . https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/4728
Reuters. (2023, March 6). Activists urge human rights court to condemn El Salvador’s abortion ban | Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/activists-urge-human-rights-court-condemn-el-salvadors-abortion-ban-2023-03-07/
Reifenberg, N., & Viterna, J. (2023, March 7). The Other Biatrices. El faro. https://elfaro.net/en/202303/opinion/26755/The-Other-Beatrices.htm
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Pulido, D. (2024, December 22). Inter-American Court finds El Salvador liable for obstetric violence in high-risk pregnancy case. Jurist. https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/12/inter-american-court-finds-el-salvador-liable-for-obstetric-violence-in-high-risk-pregnancy-case/
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Wager, D. (2023, March 30). Professor Paolo Carozza testifies before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in case of Beatriz v. El Salvador: The Law School: University of Notre Dame. The Law School. https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/march-2023-paolo-carozza-inter-american-court-human-rights-beatriz/
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Gómez, R. (2024, May 8). Publications regarding Beatriz v. El Salvador . Americans United for Life. https://aul.org/2024/05/08/publications-regarding-beatriz-v-el-salvador/
Flanders May 7, N. (2023, May 5). The legal case that could force abortion upon El Salvador is based on a lie. Live Action News. https://www.liveaction.org/news/legal-case-abortion-el-salvador-lie/
Pulido, D. (2024, December 22). Inter-American Court finds El Salvador liable for obstetric violence in high-risk pregnancy case. Jurist. https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/12/inter-american-court-finds-el-salvador-liable-for-obstetric-violence-in-high-risk-pregnancy-case/
Gómez, R. (2025, April 15). Preliminary thoughts about the judgment of the inter-american court of human rights in Beatriz v. El Salvador. Americans United for Life. https://aul.org/2025/04/15/preliminary-thoughts-about-the-judgment-of-the-inter-american-court-of-human-rights-in-beatriz-v-el-salvador/
Echevarria, L. (2024, December 20). National Right to Life Committee responds to IACHR ruling in Beatriz v. El Salvador case - national right to life. National Right to Life - Protecting Life in America Since 1968. https://nrlc.org/communications/nrlc-responds-to-iachr-ruling-in-beatriz-v-el-salvador-case/
Anderson, C. F. (2024, December 24). International Human Rights Court rules in favor of abortion rights in case against El Salvador. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2024/12/24/international-human-rights-court-rules-inabortion-el-salvador-beatriz/